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STRENGTH AND WEAKNESS. 



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JOHN RETNEL1 MOKELL. 



NEW YORK : 



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tIKER, THORNE & CO., 129 FULTON STREET 7R 



1854. 



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RUSSIA AND ENGLAND. 



THEIR 



41 4~ 



STKENGTH AND WEAKNESS. 



BY 



JOHN REYNELL MORELL. 



NEW YORK: 

RIKER, THORNE & CO., 129 FULTON STREET. 

1854. 






JOHN F. TROW, Peinteb, 
49 Ann street 



PREFACE. 

The facts and reflections presented in the following work 
are dictated neither by rancour nor by the bitterness of disap- 
pointed hope ; but result entirely from the strong and unbiassed 
convictions of the author and his honest love of country, of 
liberty, and of truth. Whatever accusations he may have 
levelled against men in office must be understood as applying 
exclusively to their public character, nor does' the blame which 
appears to attach to some members of the Cabinet involve all 
their colleagues, many of whom are among the brightest orna- 
ments of the aristocracy and senate of this country. In the 
magnitude of the questions involved in the present contest the 
dignity of history requires us to drop all personal considerations 
and to judge men and things by a higher standard than tempo- 
rary and local interests. Above all, it is incumbent on us to 
rise above all party and class interests and considerations. If 
the following pages present a departure from this rule, it must 
be attributed to the infirmity of human nature and not to the 
intentions of the author, who is guided alone by his concern for 
the welfare of his country and the peace of the world. 



CONTENTS. 

Page 

Chap. L — Russia's "Weakness England's Strength .... 5 

Ciiap. II. — Circassian Gallantry 14 

Chap. III. — Russian Injustice 26 

Chap. IV.— Schamyl 39 

Chap. V. — Schamyl's Adventures 48 

Chap. VI. — Physical Geography of the Caucasus .... 52 

Chap. VII. — Political Geography and Statistics 57 

Chap. VIII. — England's Weakness Russia's Strength ... 64 

Chap. IX. — Diplomacy . . . . , 70 

Chap. X. — Illustrations 84 



RUSSIA AND ENGLAND. 



CHAPTER I. 

Russia's weakness England's strength. 

In every contest, from a single combat to the conflict ofem- 
pires, it is the main object of opponents to find out each other's 
weak point. Every belligerent power has, like Achilles, its 
heel, its vulnerable place. An intuition into this fact was the 
secret of Napoleon's conquests. But, unfettered by the cum- 
brous machinery of constitutional government, this great cap- 
tain was able to carry out his intuitions with the speed of light- 
ning and to follow them up with the impetus of the whirlwind. 
Hence rapidity was the chief instrument of his success, and time, 
as Alison repeats in every page of his memorable history, i$ 
every thing in war. Here we have one great cause of Russia's 
strength and England's weakness, on which we purpose to dilate 
at a future opportunity. At present we are engaged with Rus- 
sia's weakness, which must, as a necessary conclusion, be Eng- 
land's strength. 

England is at war with Russia, an empire of colossal size, 
immense resources, boundless ambition, and unscrupulous diplo- 
macy. It would be worse than idle to conceal the formidable 
nature of the struggle, though it is more than doubtful if the 
British Government has not been guilty of criminal delay in 



O . RUSSIA S WEAKNESS 

protracting negotiations and deferring an appeal to arms. With 
the secret documents of Russian diplomacy in our hands from 
the days of Ivan and Bathory to those of Nicholas and Sir Ham- 
ilton Seymour, a doubt regarding the honest intentions and 
honourable character of its rulers and people would be high 
treason. But whatever our judgment of the past follies or crimes 
of the Aberdeen cabinet, it is the duty of this country to watch 
carefully lest they be repeated or aggravated. Let us explain 
our meaning : This country has immense resources in men 
and money ; every opponent has some weak point, and time is 
everything in war. Lastly, the common sense of this country 
has decided that a free expenditure of treasure, and, if necessa- 
ry, of blood at the outset, is the best economy. We repeat that 
it is the duty of England to see that these maxims be instantly 
adopted and vigorously carried out by the present ministry. 

Approaching more closely the special object of these pages, 
let us endeavour to ascertain Russia's weakness, for that must 
evidently be our strength. A few years ago it would not have 
been necessary to write a page to prove the weak point of Rus- 
sia. A large wound was rankling patent, obvious in her breast ; 
but the misapprehensions of British diplomacy acted as a salve : 
the wound was cicatrized — Poland fell, and the Council of Three 
in Downing Street had it all their own way. An old proverb 
says a stitch in time saves nine, and we are now paying and 
suffering for the blunders or treachery, or both, of an Aberdeen 
Ministry playing into the hands of Russia, and omitting to make 
that stitch. 

But it is idle to turn to the past, save as a warning for the 
future. Let us face the present and prepare for the future, so 
as to prevent a repetition of the same crimes for which we are 
now suffering a national and a just retribution. Russia has 
ow a weak point which would be a tower of strength to Eng- 
and if we had an honest as well as an able man at the helm. 
ay, if Britain could find a Cincinnatus and install him dicta- 
tor for one year, with discretionary power, Russia would be 



ENGLAND'S STRENGTH. 7 

humbled in the dust. But even this unprecedented measure 
is unnecessary, for if our senate contained a majority of com- 
mon sense we should have a man of honour and of sense as 
premier, and England would dictate any terms to Russia. 

The limits of this work, the value of time, and the impor- 
tance of the subject, make it impossible for the author to give 
here a detailed account of the process that would effect this. 
All he wishes or hopes to do at present is, to direct attention to 
a matter of vital importance to the welfare of this country and 
the liberties of the world. 

In the far East, between two dark and stormy seas, there 
towers aloft an Alpine range, for ages the home and bulwark of 
liberty, and the cradle of a race of Tells. A rugged region, 
remarkable for the asperity of its climate and the poverty of its 
people ; but the theatre of imperishable glory, and the parent 
of undying heroism. This range is the Caucasus — this popula- 
tion is the Circassians. 

For many years an object of deep interest to the author; 
he had in early youth learned to admire the beauties of its 
scenery and value the gallantry of its clans. He had long fa- 
miliarized himself with its' natural and moral features, and had 
understood that it was the principal barrier against Russian 
aggression in the East. Thus far his views coincided with those 
of many others of his countrymen, but within a recent date, and 
especially since the commencement of the Eastern Question, his 
eyes have been opened, and he has seen that nothing but crime 
in the ministry at home can prevent the triumph of Turkey and 
England, and the prostration of Russia in 1854. 

The chief elements of success in war are three in number : 1, 
enthusiasm ; 2, valour and energy ; 3, discipline. It is probable 
that no nations on record have ever matched the Circassians in 
the first two elements, but they want the third. Hence some 
spiritless German writers infer that they can effect nothing in the 
plains. To this we reply, send a body of British infantry and 
artillery to the Caucasus, and the war is yours. The Circassian 



8 RUSSIA S WEAKNESS 

cavalry are avowedly the finest light horse in the world, and 
they could send forth 100,000 to 200,000 of these men, inured 
to hardships and abstinence, and first-rate shots. Armed with 
Minie rifles what could stand them ? New Tscherkask and the 
towns of the Don Cossacks are groaning with riches, the spoil of 
Western Europe, and the Volga could float a fleet of transports 
into the heart "of Russia to accompany the army and supply it 
with provisions. Napoleon's and Charles X.'s invasions failed 
for want of provisions. The burning of Moscow did not save 
Russia, and water carriage within a few versts of Moscow settles 
her doom. I repeat my appeal : send an army and a man of 
decision and experience to the Caucasus with discretionary 
power, and build some steamers on the Caspian, and the day is 
yours. No force that ever appeared in the field could equal a 
host of Circassian cavalry supported by British infantry and 
artillery, and those Germans who argue that the Circassians can 
do nothing in the plains forget the first maxim of war, that a 
formidable cavalry is most formidable in a plain country. It is 
the deliberate opinion of the writer of these pages, founded on 
the experience of those most intimately acquainted with the 
Caucasian mountaineers, that such an army could conquer the 
world, a fortiori Russia ; nor need the plan be delayed a day. 
If our patriotic aristocracy and merchants will come forward 
with their yachts and steamers, the Don is open to us flowing 
into the sea of Azof and navigable within a very short distance 
of the Volga. Thus the difficulty of provisions vanishes, and 
this is the great difficulty in Russian campaigns. Secondly, all 
the Circassian tribes speak Tartar and understand Turkish. Take 
enough English, Turkish, and other interpreters with you, and 
concert your measures at once with the chiefs. I copy the 
statements of Bell and Longworth when I assert that for twenty 
years since Urquhart's visit they have expected and longed for 
such a force and plan. We have said that time is everything 
in war, and a heavy blow the best economy. We therefore 
pronounce it a distinct and certain evidence of high treason i" 



England's strength. 9 

our Cabinet if we do not finish the matter and humble our foe 
immediately by sending a British force of 40 or 50,000 men, 
or an Anglo-French army of an equal or larger amount to the 
Caucasus. The French Government is prepared to adopt this 
measure, and if Lord Aberdeen neglects or delays it he ought 
to be impeached. 

Such is one of our plans by which the Russian monarchy 
may be overthrown, and Europe as well as Asia rescued from 
its thraldom. But this is not the only nor perhaps the most 
obvious or easy plan of turning to account the weak point of 
our antagonist. The possession of the Caucasus and of the 
Black Sea, including the Crimea, constitute the strength of 
Russia to the South, and give her her present menacing position 
on the side of Turkey, Persia, and India. These three posses- 
sions are the keystone to Russian encroachments in Asia. The 
Crimea, including Sebastopol, gives Russia the command of the 
Black Sea, and its loss would cripple and paralyze all her at- 
tempts at southern aggression. We need not repeat the oft 
told tale of diplomacy, which gave the Crimea into the hands 
of Catherine, after passing through the orthodox stages of pro- 
tection and annexation. But it is essential to remember that 
the Crimean Tartars are Mohammedans, and a different race 
from the Sclavonians, whom they fear and hate. Though they 
are become a servile race through oppression, they have not 
forgotten the superior amenity of Turkish sway ; they are affi- 
liated in origin and tongue with the Osmanlis ; they speak a 
dialect current throughout Circassia, and the Crimea is only 
separated from the Caucasus by the narrow straits of the Cim- 
merian Bosphorus. Two hours' sail would launch a force of 
50,000 Circassian cavalry in the Crimea, which, supported by 
an adequate corps of Anglo-French infantry and artillery, would 
take the Russians in flank and rear, exterminate any land force 
in the peninsula, invest Sebastopol, and bombard the town and 
Russian fleet, whilst our squadrons, unless detained all the sum- 
mer at Beicos Bay for want of coals, or from the scruples of 



10 

British ministers, would batter down its defences on the sea 
side. The greater part of the Crimea is mountainous, and 
therefore suitable to the habits of Circassians, and a glance at 
the map will show how practicable and feasible such a plan is, 
if we have men of character and common sense in our ministry. 
The Crimea and Sebastopol once captured, Odessa is at our 
mercy, and we cut off the retreat of Gortchakoff, who is thus 
between two fires. "We operate on the base of his operations, 
we cut off all reinforcements, and if Austria by the blackest 
treachery dares to join with Muscovy, we enter into communi- 
cation with Hungarian and Polish insurgents by the Pruth and 
Carpathians. 

So evident is the advantage of this plan to the cause of 
freedom throughout the world, that we cannot present its value 
in too strong a light to our countrymen at this critical moment. 
We are engaged in a desperate war, that may be of long dura- 
tion. It is our interest as well as duty to finish it, and as ef- 
fectually as possible, to prevent the evils resulting from a serious 
increase to our national debt and taxation, besides the countless 
other afflictions resulting from a long war. The existence of 
our Indian empire itself is intimately bound up in this question, 
for if the Circassian tribes are all enslaved, Persia, which is al- 
ready protected, and awed like Germany, will end by .becoming 
a Russian province, Muscovy will have a side on the Indian 
Ocean, and a Sikh insurrection will speedily ensue, for we know 
by this time the activity and discretion of Russian agents. Thus 
the East would be condemned to exchange, the enlightened 
sway of Great Britain for the most grinding despotism on re- 
cord, and Asia would, like Europe, be hurled back into the night 
of barbarism for ages. All this mischief can be saved at once, 
at the Caucasus, and the same blow that parries the thrust of 
Muscovy, lays her prostrate for ever. 

With the Caucasus as the base of our operations and Cir- 
cassians as the nucleus of our force, a variety of projects occur 
besides those briefly described above, all calculated to bring 



England's strength. 11 

Russia to our feet. Our limits will prevent our enlarging at 
present on many details, but we will endeavour to point out the 
course that might and should be pursued without the loss of our 
time, for every hour lost will have to be purchased by a heavy 
sacrifice of British blood and treasure. First then our fleets in 
the Black Sea should have an unlimited supply of coal. Sec- 
ondly they should not be kept for months at Beicos Bay to 
overawe the Turks instead of the Russians. Thirdly they should 
detach a powerful squadron to Anapa, a Russian fortress, at the 
mouth of the Kouban, where Circassia and the Crimea shake 
hands. That squadron should have a large land force with 
transports under its wing, and under a good, efficient com- 
mander. The land force should be landed and join the Circas- 
sians and proceed to invest Anapa whilst the fleet bombards it. 
In a couple of days it will be ours. Let the same thing be 
done at once with all the forts along the Circassian coast, and 
let the Russian passes through the Caucasus be blockaded by a 
regular European force. Schamyl will do the rest, and Geor- 
gia is ours. Thus Turkey will be safe on the side of Armenia 
and a large Russian force will be reduced to surrender at dis- 
cretion. This hypothesis is not a vain conjecture of the author, 
since the Governor-General of Southern Russia is at present on 
a visit to Nicholas to represent to him the precarious condition 
of Georgia and of the Caucasian provinces. 

Having swept the Caucasian isthmus clean of its Muscovite 
intruders, a large force of splendid chivalrous cavalry will be at 
our service to strike a heavy blow at once on the enemy. Rus- 
sia lies open to our army invading it from the Caucasus, and 
we can threaten Moscow, Sebastopol, Odessa, and the rear of 
the Russian Danubian army all simultaneously, if England and 
France will do their duty and spare no means to effect their end 
thoroughly and speedily. A power that has been encroaching 
for 150 years cannot be humbled without an effort ; but let the 
two maritime powers put forth all their strength, and the doom 
of Russia is settled this summer. Not a day, however, must be 
lost, as the summer is short and the winter long and severe in 



12 Russia's weakness 

those inhospitable regions. Let then an offensive and defensive 
league be concluded with Schamyl. Let him be supplied with 
unlimited resources of all sorts. Let the same thing be done 
with the indepenclant Circassian Chiefs of the Western Cauca- 
sus. Let one mighty host, supported by an Anglo-French army, 
invade the heart of Russia by the Volga, let another occupy the 
Crimea and Sebastopol, and let a large corps of Circassians be 
transported by our lazy fleet across the Euxine to the Dobrudjna 
and take the Muscovites in flank. The Circassians will soon 
give a good account of the Cossacks, and Bulgaria would be 
freed from those bandits in a week. 

What is required to effect all this — 1st, A ready supply of 
men and money from England, which it is fully prepared to 
give — 2dly, honesty, patriotism, and energy in the Ministry 
where they are wanting. 

We cannot press this point too strongly on our countrymen. 
We have it in our power to finish the war rapidly and success- 
fully ; it is our wish so to do, and if we do not effect our object 
it will be through the criminal blindness and collusion of the 
Ministry. Should it be suggested that Germany may join Rus- 
sia under the circumstances we have supposed, we reply that we 
hold an avenging scourge over the perjurious and cowardly 
houses of Hapsburg and Hohenzollern, and if they dare violate 
their faith and honour and all laws, human and divine, they will 
incur a fearful retribution for past sins. The corpses of mangled 
and tortured heroes in Hungary and Poland grin horribly a 
ghastly smile upon these Christian monarchs, and the offspring 
of the holy dead are ready to take a terrible vengeance for the 
outrages heaped upon their fathers. Here again we are safe if 
the misapprehensions of Aberdeen and Palmerston, which 
smiled at the ruin of Poland, at the suppression of Hungary 
and Cracow, and the massacre of Gallicia, do not at length lead 
England also to her ruin. They have brought us near it. God 
save gallant Albion from the catastrophe ! 

We have attempted to direct public attention more intently 
on the Caucasus for national and interested motives in the pre- 



England's strength. 13 

ceding pages, and to show that a free expenditure of men and 
money rightly employed must terminate the war and ruin Rus- 
sia. It shall be our purpose next to stimulate whatever remains 
of disinterested spirit in this money-making age and people, and 
whatever sympathy with gallantry and heroism still smoulders 
in the breast of our magnanimous statesmen, by dwelling some- 
what longer on the characteristics of the tribes of the Cauca- 
sus, and of their gallant struggle against their oppressors, which 
has now lasted above a century. By pursuing this course we 
hope to secure two important ends. First, to strengthen the 
prevailing dread and hatred of Russian aggression by a display 
of the blessings and favours that it confers on its enviable vas- 
sals, — secondly, to substantiate the soundness of the statements 
that we have just advanced, by proving the fabulous heroism, 
and the desperate resolution of these chivalrous mountaineers, 
together with their deadly hatred of Russia. 

r The facts that will be found in the ensuing pages are ex- 
tracted from all the principal reliable works that have appeared 
on the Caucasus for the last fifty years. With the exception of 
one or two respectable authorities, such as Koch and Bodenstedt, 
the author has found it necessary to adopt the statements of our 
amiable neighbours the Germans with much caution, for, owing 
to the thraldrom in which they are held by Russia, they have 
a singular faculty of overlooking all that is disadvantageous to 
their protector and of seeing all the foes of Muscovite oppres- 
sion through a Russian colouring. Most German writers on 
Circassia have only seen Circassians on Russian ground and 
through the misrepresentations of Russian accounts ; but many 
Englishmen have of late years visited them at home, where 
they have become acquainted with the splendour of their 
virtues and of their persons. Of these British authorities, it 
will suffice to mention the names, of Stanislaus Bell, the owner 
of the Vixen, Mr. Long worth, and Mr. Urquhart, whose state- 
ments, together with those of Bodenstedt, will form the basis 
of our descriptions in the following pages. 
2* 



CHAPTER II. 

CIRCASSIAN GALLANTRY. 

Whilst the equivocal bravery and the negative virtues of a 
band of Klephts in Greece were celebrated by the muse and 
consecrated by the sacrifice of the brightest ornaments of western 
culture, a gallant race of knights had for generations exceeded 
the heroism of the Peloponnesian and the Punic wars, without 
their prowess exciting the admiration or touching the sympathies 
of this progressive age. The inconsistency is comfortably ex- 
plained by the consummate wisdom of our public schools, and 
the charity of our pulpits. Our pedagogues have long deter- 
mined that classical, achievements shall displace all opposition, 
and our pulpits have settled that the term Christian shall cover 
a multitude of sins. To this we must add, that the modern 
Greeks were engaged in the laudable task of resisting their le- 
gitimate sovereign, the Sultan, whilst the Circassians were 
capable of the enormity of defending their country and their 
rights against the aggressions of Russia. We must evidently 
attribute the interest shown to the former, and the indifference 
to the latter, to the very consistent sympathies of our country- 
men, as it cannot be accounted for on the plea of ignorance. 
One of the most voluminous and interesting of British travel- 
lers bore witness, more than fifty years ago, to the more than 
Spartan valour and stoical endurance of the mountaineers of the 
Caucasus. He informs us, that examples of heroism occur among 
them that would have conferred lustre on the Romans in the 
most virtuous periods of their history. Among the prisoners in 



CIRCASSIAN GALLANTRY. 15 

the Cossack army, he saw some Circassians who had performed 
perhaps unparalleled feats of bravery. The Commander-in- 
Chief, General Drascovitz, affirmed that, in all his campaigns 
against the Turks and the disciplined armies of Europe, he had 
never witnessed examples of greater valour than he had seen 
among the Circassians. The troops of other nations, when sur- 
rounded by superior numbers, commonly surrendered as prison- 
ers of war ; but the Circassian continues to fight alone, with a 
host of foes upon him, whilst a spark of life remains. He saw 
a Circassian chief in the prison at Ekaterinodar, about thirty- 
five years old, who had received fifteen desperate wounds before 
he fell, and was captured after he had fainted from loss of blood. 
This version of the*case emanated from his bitterest enemies, 
and deserves possibly some credit. He was first attacked by 
three Cossacks, whose object it was to take him alive, if possible, 
because of his high rank and importance. Hence, they em- 
ployed every art to avoid endangering his life in the attack. 
The Circassian soon discovered their aim, and resolved not to 
surrender. With his single sword, he shivered their three 
lances at the first onset, and subsequently wounded two of his 
three assailants. At length, encompassed by others who gal- 
loped up to help their comrades, he fell, covered with wounds, 
fighting to the last moment. The British traveller visited him 
in prison, where he lay extended on a plank, bearing the agonies 
of his dreadful wounds without a murmur. They had shortly 
before extracted the iron point of a spear from his side. A 
young Circassian maiden was occupied in driving the flies *from 
his face with a green bough. All his visitor's expressions of 
sympathy were lost upon him ; and when offered money he 
refused it, handing it to his fellow-captives, as if quite uncon- 
scious of its value. 

In the same place of confinement stood a Circassian female, 
about twenty years of age, with fine bright brown hair, ex- 
tremely beautiful, but pale, and hardly able to support herself, 
owing to sorrow and debility. The Cossack said, that when 



16 CIRCASSIAN GALLANTRY. 

captured, this woman was in good health, but that being sepa- 
rated from her husband she had refused all sustenance since she 
was taken, and as she was continually grieving, they appre- 
hended that she would not live. The travellers spared no en- 
treaties to obtain her release from the Commander-in-Chief. 
They were included in the exchanges, but as they would have 
to await the arrival of the Cossack prisoners against whom they 
were exchanged, it is probable that the poor woman never saw 
her husband or country again. 

General Grekow, who was at a fort of Daghestan, called 
Wach-Tschai, in 182G, and wished to put an end to a sangui- 
nary struggle by negotiations, summoned the chiefs and elders 
of the hostile tribes to meet him at the foft on a certain day. 
Two hundred Tschetschensians appeared, with an enthusiastic 
, Mollah at their head ; but Grekow fearing treachery such as had 
previously occurred in similar circumstances, refused to admit 
any one but the Mollah as the spokesman of his people. 

The fearless Tschetschensian entered the room alone, where 
General Grekow and Lissanewitsch were assembled with their 
suite. " Why has thy people," began General Grekow, " bro- 
ken its contract, and seized arms anew ? " " Because you first 
broke your contracts, and because my people regard thee as an 
oppressor," replied the Mollah. 

ic Silence, traitor ! " interrupted the wrathful Muscovite ; 
" seest thou not that thou art here separated from thy followers 
and in my power ? I will cause thee to be hanged up, and thy 
lying'tongue to be taken from thy mouth." * * * " Is this 
your respect for the laws of hospitality ? " exclaimed the furious 
Tschetschensian, rushing on the General, whom he pierced with 
his kinschal (dagger). 

The spectators fell upon the Mollah with drawn swords, pis- 
tols were discharged, soldiers pressed into the room, but a num- 
ber of other victims fell under the blows of the raging Tschet- 
schensian, before he sank riddled with balls and pierced with 
bayonets. Among the fallen was Lieutenant-General Lissane- 



CIRCASSIAN GALLANTRY. 17 

witsch, and the wounded included a colonel and two other offi- 
cers. Thus, without mentioning the other victims, two of the 
bravest Russian generals were slain in a few moments by the 
desperate valour of one man. The Russian soldiers, as is their 
wont, vented tfteir untimely rage on the bloody corpse of the 
Tschetschensian, which was cut to pieces, spat upon, and trod- 
den under ft .;Ot. / 

Nor have the tribes of the Caucasus belied their high cha- 
racter for valour at a more recent date. History does not pre- 
sent an instance of more desperate courage than that exhibited 
at the siege of Achulko, which lasted two months, notwithstand- 
ing that the Muscovites were endowed with all the ornaments 
of civilized warfare, and consisted of twelve batt ilions, under 
the auspices of the German General Grabbe, an honour to his 
native and to his adopted* country. During this eventful siege, 
the regiment of Paskiewitsch, consisting of three battalions, was 
ordered up to the assault, and the Russian, officers on seeing 
them pass, observed, " To-morrow two of these battalions will 
not be alive ;" and, true enough, only a single battalion returned 
from the storm. This took place on the 21st of August, and a 
Russian authority admits that both sides fought with a fury and 
bravery of which few examples are found in European wars. 
Another amiable German, who shared in the glories of Russian 
butcheries, relates that the scenes he witnessed on that occasion 
are more like a horrid dream than anything real. ' In the heat 
of combat he saw the beautiful Circassian women hovering like 
spirits on the craigs, their long hair floating wildly over their 
lovely shoulders, their ideal persons partly disclosed to view by 
the disorder of their attire, all resolved not to surrender, and 
using every effort to arrest their foe. He beheld four women 
amidst the smoke of battle, roll down a mighty fragment of 
rock, with superhuman strength, upon the advancing Russians ; 
the stone swept close by the amiable German, and crushed many 
Muscovites in its descent. He saw also a young mother, after 
staring at the fearful scene with glaring eyes, dash the brains 



18 CIRCASSIAN GALLANTRY. 

of her infant boy against a rock, and dart headlong down a 
precipice. Many other women followed her example. We 
shall not dwell farther on this terrible siege at present, as a 
more circumstantial account will appear at a future page ; but 
we shall pass for a moment to the consideration^ the fanatical 
bravery of the Murids, or mystical sect of Mahometans, who look 
up to Schamyl as their Prophet, and it will be seen that these 
mountaineers, whether Mahometans, Pagans, or Theists, in the 
east and in the west, exhibit invariably the same desperate val- 
our, in all situations and in all ages. 

The Murid fanatics, whose gallantry is beyond admiration, 
often devote themselves to death in battle, and swear never 
to yield. A Russian eyewitness relates that, on some oc- 
casions, the wild enthusiasm of these mystics is so great, 
that, during a siege, they are too impatient to await the assault 
of the foe, and alone, with their schaschka (Circassian sword), 
in the right hand, a pistol in the left, and the kinschal between 
their teeth, they will jump from the rocks in the midst of the 
Russians. Let the reader imagine the alarm of the besiegers, 
tranquilly encamped below, who are quite ready to expect 
the whistle of bullets from above, but are far from anticipating 
such a terrible missile — a man armed to his teeth. The 
Tschetschensian takes advantage of their astonishment, and 
springing like a tiger into their midst, he shoots the first 
Russian with his pistol, then taking his dagger from his 
teeth, he cuts and thrusts at the others like a madman, till he 
at length bleeds to death, pierced with bayonets. In such 
cases the Tschetschensian generally avenges his own death by 
sending two Russians beforehand into eternity, and his martyr- 
dom is greeted with thunders of applause from his comrades 
above. 

In the year 1845 the east coast of the Black Sea was 
afflicted with drought, and the price of provisions rose to an 
extraordinary pitch in the aouls (Circassian villages) of the in- 
dependent Circassians. The harvest of the preceding year had 



CIRCASSIAN GALLANTRY. 19 

failed, all provisions had been devoured, famine destroyed 
large numbers of people, and nowhere could any improvement 
be descried. The great drought prevailing in the "spring of the 
year 1845, only threatened to increase the evil. 

The Russians anticipated the most fortunate results from 
this scourge, as they always do from every distress, and 
looked forward to the speedy subjection of the coast tribes, 
under the blessed sway of the knout and secret poliqe. Never 
was so close a blockade kept up along the east shore of the 
Black Sea, as during this unlucky season ; all approach from 
the sea-side was entirely cut off from the Circassians, through 
the misapprehensions of British statesmen, nor could they 
look for support from the far sighted and enlightened charities 
of England and France. As for Germany, she had long been 
sold to and protected by Russia. Nevertheless, not a word was 
said about surrender among the mountaineers. 

Never were the bazaars near the Russian forts on the coast 
so beset with crowds of Circassians, as in the year 1845. They 
came daily pouring in, in great crowds, in order to exchange 
their spare arms and treasures against bread. But not a 
thought was entertained of capitulating, though "the most ad- 
vantageous terms were offered them by the Russians, to be 
broken of course afterwards as usual. 

The most valuable arms, equipments, and dresses, were to 
be procured in the bazaar for a bag of salt and flour ; " I my- 
self," says a German, " witnessed the small compensation that 
was taken as an equivalent for Russian prisoners who had 
lingered in captivity for long years." A splendid Circassian 
sabre was offered to this visitor for a bag of meal, though the 
proprietor would not take a gold piece for it. 

The summer advanced, and the distress increased. The 
Russians believed that famine would tame the Circassians and 
force them to lay down their arms ; long negotiations were 
daily carried .on with the chiefs, but there was no sign of sur- 
render. 



20 CIRCASSIAN GALLANTRY. 

The same German visitor was often present at these nego- 
tiations with chiefs of the Ubyches and Dschigeths, and the as- 
pect of their splendid and chivalrous figures restored all his en- 
thusiasm, which had been partially cooled by some unpleasant 
encounters. 

Bersek Bey, a proud Ubych Prince, sa^d once to General 
X , in one of these interviews, " Let us be honourable ene- 
mies ! Is^it manly conduct to force people by hunger to do 
what you could not effect by arms ? Famine has driven me to 
you ; the misery of my people has pierced my heart ; but I am not 
come to submit, but to remind you of our rights and of your 
honour ! " 

" Is this," proceeded the gallant chief, " is this the boasted 
magnanimity of your Padishah, to cause us to starve, in order 
to rule over corpses ? We do not desire your bread, we only 
wish the freedom of buying other's bread. You reckon it a 
crime, that we will not take your yoke upon us, but is that a 
just ground for making us starve ? Does a rider starve a horse 
that he cannot break in ? And is it your intention to act more 
cruelly to us than to dumb animals ? " 

Bersek Bey paused here a little. The general answered 
the energetic discourse of his warlike guest in as dignified a 
tone as was possible, under the circumstances ; he sought to 
turn the simile of the rider and horse to the advantage of the 
Russians, maintaining that he looked upon starving as a legiti- 
mate means of taming the refractory, under certain circumstan- 
ces, though a good rider would not let his horse die of hunger. 
He spoke of the philanthropic and amiable views which the 
Russian Emperor followed in all his conquests,— of the happi- 
ness and prosperity which heaven showered on all the subjects 
of his Imperial Majesty, blessings which would also accrue to 
the Circassians if they would bend to the gentle yoke of Russia ; 
and other edifying and veracious statements in which Russian 
diplomatists have always liberally and honourably indulged. 

The general was among the most discreet and honourable 



CIRCASSIAN GALLANTRY. 21 

of his class; and the words of his mouth were in singular con- 
tradiction to the impulses of his heart; but he knew his duty, 
or rather his expediency, and he observed it; he knew that he 
was not sent to the Caucasus to talk fine, but to act up to his 
orders. 

This interview lasted above four hours, and was conducted 
with great animation on both sides. The general, who antici- 
pated similar interviews with other chiefs, concluded this one 
as follows : — " Listen, Bersek Bey," he said, " the Pride of thy 
Tribe, hear my last word ! I will make a proposition to thee, 
till greater unanimity exists between our views. The approach 
by sea must remain closed to you, for such is the will of my 
lord, the Emperor. But that you may not say that we have 
starved you to death, I propose to all your hungry countrymen 
to come freely to us to work on our fortresses. They shall be 
well paid and fed, and I pledge my word that not a hair of their 
head shall be touched." 

Bersek Bey thanked the general, and replied that he would 
impart his proposition to his people, without giving his advice 
for or against it. 

On the following day the German visitor left the fortress 
where these negotiations were carried on, and returned to the 
same place, after a stormy voyage of two weeks on the Black 
Sea. He was curious to learn further particulars relating to the 
impression that had been made by the general's propositions on 
the starving mountaineers. The Dschigeths as well as the 
Ubyches had indignantly rejected the message of Bersek Bey ; 
and of the remaining chieftains to whom similar offers had been 
made only thirteen individuals had fled from the nearest aouls 
to the Russian fortresses, and of these thirteen, as I subsequently 
learnt, ^ve were put to death, and the remaining eight, who 
were out of the reach of their countrymen, were rejected by 
their clans, because they had assisted their foes in building their 
fortresses. 

The entire character of the mountaineers is reflected in this 
trait. 



22 CIRCASSIAN GALLANTRY. 

Bersek Bey, the proud Ubych Prince, is the same man, 
who, in 1847, at the head of the warriors of his tribe, stormed 
the fortress of Ssotscha and made the whole garrison jump over 
the walls, a system which has been taught the Circassians by 
their humane Muscovite invaders. 

What, let me ask, could not be effected with such allies, 
if the misunderstandings and vacillation of British diplomacy, 
did not destroy them and us ? These are the men who said to 
Bell : If Turkey and England desert us, should all our powers 
of resistance be exausted, we will burn our houses and property, 
slay our women and children, retire to our rocks, and righting 
fall to the last man. These are the heroes of whom Urquhart, 
who knew them, said : What would be your feelings of admira- 
tion, if one of that people stood before you — one of the guar- 
dians of the Caucasus, the protectors of your Eastern Empire, a 
well-knit and athletic form, with the eagle's eyes, and the elas- 
ticity of the roe, with the daring courage of the sons of the 
Alps, yet courteous as a man of the world, and simple-hearted 
as a child. It is impossible for me, by words, to express the 
admiration and sympathy with which that people inspires me. 
These are the men of whom this Highland seer pronounced 
that " they are the only people from the Atlantic to the Indian 
Ocean who are prepared to avenge an injury and to cast back 
a threat, emanating from the Czar of Muscovy ! " 

Again, I ask, what could not be effected with such men as 
these ? We want to take Sebastopol, but the fleets are detained 
at Beicos Bay, by want of coals, by cowardice or treachery. If 
the Ministry, the admiral, and the navy are afraid of the forts 
and batteries, take a few Circassians on board and they will do 
the work. These brave hearts never quail before certain death. 
A devoted band of them will clear the way for you, if you will 
let them, by steering in some fire ships,. or exploding some 
floating mines in the middle of the harbour, and thus when 
the breach is effected by these new Winkelrieds with the loss 
of their life, you can go in after them. Similarly they will 



CIRCASSIAN GALLANTRY. 23 

clear the mouth of the Danube for you, if you will let them ; 
but you must have a supply of coals at hand, for without that 
even their bravery will be thrown away. Nor is there a chance 
of any of these essential measures being adopted while the 
Coalition palsies Downing Street and the Times tutors the Ex- 
change, the bankers, and the herd. You will lose your money 
and your life ; Turkey and Circassia will be ruined ; and Eng- 
land disgraced and distressed by an enormous debt, for no good 
save that of Russia, because the protectors of Greece and the 
deserters of Poland with their organ in Printing-house Square, 
are trusted by the intelligent natives of this island. 

Mr. Longworth (v. ii, p. 14,) describes the following adven- 
ture : — Fifty vessels, including a steamer and transports, had 
suddenly stood into the bay of Ardiler, and upwards of a hun- 
dred boats, having been lowered and manned, made directly 
for the beach. To prevent, their landing, only sixty warriors, 
all nobles, we were told, could for some time be mustered ; but ' 
this little band of determined men, addressed itself with such 
gallantry to the task, maintaining a well-directed fire on the 
boats as they drew nigh, and sallying sword in hand from their 
trenches on the soldiers before they could form on the beach, 
that notwithstanding the murderous broadsides of the ships of 
war poured as usual on Russians and Circassians indiscriminate- 
ly, the former could obtain no footing. The neighborhood had 
in the meantime rallied, and animated by the example of the 
heroic handful who had nobly kept the Russians at bay till their 
arrival, the people of Ardiler, on that occasion at all events, en- 
tirely prevented the debarkation. 

We shall add another interesting scene extracted from the 
same writer, to illustrate the gallantry of the Circassians. 
Guz Bey, a noble chief, surnamed the Lion, took his boy to 
war for the first time in 1834, and by precept and example 
showed him the way (ever with him the shortest and most 
dangerous) to victory, bidding him sternly not disgrace his 
lineage. 



24 CIRCASSIAN GALLANTRY. 

While cutting his way through the Russians one day (rath- 
er a nice undertaking, and one which he described to Long- 
worth as resembling a flash of forked lightning), his horse 
pierced by a bullet threw him headlong, a. lion among the hun- 
ters, in the thickest of them. Such were the number and fierce- 
ness of his assailants that he was fairly lifted from the ground 
by the bayonets thrust into the rings of his hauberk.* There 
seemed but small hope of life or rescue to him then. Yet that 
unexpected rescue came, and his emotion may more easily be 
imagined than described when the youthful warrior who broke 
the ring of death surrounding him — coming to conquer or 
perish by his side, proved to be his son. Dear, as it was dread- 
ful, the opportunity was selected by the youth to show he was 
not unworthy of him. Meanwhile the news of their champi- 
on's danger had spread like wild fire among the Shapsooks who 
rallied and made a desperate effort to deliver him. The charge 
of their cavalry was irresistible ; breaking the ranks of the 
Muscovites they bore away in triumph Guz Bey, and in sorrow 
the corpse of his only son. 

Describing the agility and strength of the Circassians, Mr- 
Bell (v. i, p. 127,) says, the very great superiority of their cav- 
alry must give them a great advantage on their broken ground, 
but it is almost counterbalanced by the artillery of their ene- 
mies. As a specimen of their horsemanship he speaks of a 
young man who could fire at and hit a cap placed on the ground, 
when riding full gallop, and of his jumping off his horse, load- 
ing his gun, and drawing his sword almost in a breath. Unless, 
he adds, the Russian soldiers are worth more than those I saw 
at Sebastopol and elsewhere, they must be mere children before 
such men. 

To prove their skill as marksmen, in the race, Mr. Long- 
worth (p. 141) states, that the Circassians practised with the 
long shot with a rest, and fire, with their horses at full gallop, 

* Chain -armour. 



CIRCASSIAN GALLANTRY. 25 

hitting, en passant, a small mark on the ground, having also, 
within a few yards' distance, to withdraw their rifles from their 
felt covering, in which they are slung at their backs ; the same 
feat is performed with a pistol. 

To these exercises they add wrestling and pitching with large 
stones. 

Mr. Bell, in his interesting journal, mentions that these gal- 
lant mountaineers would dart a-head full gallop, putting their 
caps at the end of their rifles as a mark, while their comrades 
behind shot after them for sport and practice, and always hit 
their aim. He also states in many places that they ride up and 
down places where the most fearless horsemen in Leicestershire 
or the Emerald Isle would not venture, and his statements agree 
with those of Mr. Spencer and Longworth. 

Mr. Bell also knew many cases where single Circassians 
performed prodigies of valour, e. g., one horseman would alone 
gallop up to within less than half cannon shot of the forts, and 
by brandishing his sword and manoeuvring his horse, do all in 
his power to dare his antagonists to tire on him. Such are the 
men to compose the allied army of the Crimea or of Moscow. 



CHAPTER III. 

RUSSIAN INJUSTICE. 

That the Circassian isthmus has not been a stranger to op- 
pression in recent times, and that Russian intrigue and injustice 
have been as active there as everywhere else, may be easily dis- 
covered from a perusal of the history of the protection and an- 
nexation of Georgia. It is not our purpose to enter into a mi- 
nute analysis of the history of this Christian country ; it will suf- 
fice to say that Russia from the time of Peter the Great inter- 
fered in the affairs of Georgia, professedly to protect it against 
Turkish and Persian aggression and persecution. The sincerity 
of the pretext w 7 as proved by her deserting the Georgians, dur- 
ing the severest afflictions to which they were exposed at the 
hands of their Mahometan neighbours. 

By a series of the most outrageous intrigues, by bribery and 
violence, Muscovite policy succeeded ultimately at the end of 
the last century, in inducing George XIII, the weakest of all 
princes, to resign his dignity and crown, in his own right and 
that of his successors, into the hands of Russia. The remark- 
able act was drawn up, September 28th, 1800, under the Em- 
peror Paul. The forced abdication of George XIII elicited the 
curse and hatred of all the nobles of the country. The queen 
herself, was extremely indignant at the cowardly proceeding of 
her imbecile husband, and the demeanour of this high-minded 
princess when she was about to be dragged off with violence 
to St. Petersburg, is an evident indication of the spirit of the 
people at the time. 



RUSSIAN INJUSTICE. 



21 



Colonel Lazaref, who was charged with the chivalrous duty 
of performing this piece of violence, entered with his interpre- 
ter, unannounced, into the room, where the queen was seated 
on the divan beside her sleeping children. It is well known 
how sacred the apartments of the women are in the eyes of all 
Orientals, and it will be readily conceived, that the queen who 
was at that time a young and beautiful woman, expressed her 
surprise and her anger in no measured terms at this rude intru- 
sion. Instead of making any apology, the Colonel showed his 
papers, and ordered the unhappy sovereign to follow him im- 
mediately. The proud Maria, who could not credit that such 
an outrage could be committed on her, with the cognizance of 
the emperor, indignantly resisted the orders of the colonel, and 
as her only answer pointed to her sleeping children. Hereupon 
Lazaref who began to grow impatient, seized the foot of the 
queen, using violence to oblige her to rise. Inflamed with rage, 
the lady sprang to her feet, drew a dagger from her bosom and 
pierced the heart of the offender, who fell lifeless on the ground. 
At the same moment, however, the interpreter rushed upon her, 
and inflicted several dangerous wounds upon her with his sword. 
She must have bled to death with the wounds, if the noise of 
the conflict and the cries of the children had not summoned 
her attendants to her assistance. 

Scarcely was the unfortunate queen somewhat convalescent, 
before she was led off with her children by an officer to St. 
Petersburg, where she terminated her eventful life only a few 
years ago. 

A German traveller and an author of some reputation, had 
an opportunity of becoming acquainted with queen Maria, 
shortly before her death, and learnt from her own lips, that she 
carried her hatred against the robbers of her freedom and her 
throne into the grave with her. 

Numerous revolutions that have recently occurred in Geor- 
gia, are the best evidence of the lasting memory sustained by 
the Georgians of the wrongs inflicted on their queen Maria. 



28 • RUSSIAN INJUSTICE. 

A still stronger evidence is afforded by the appeal made by the 
Georgian princes for the assistance of their ancient enemies the 
Turks and Persians, to help them in driving the Russians out of 
the country. 

Prince Alexander, son of King Heraclius of Georgia, 
could not endure the thought of seeing the throne of his fa* 
thers delivered into the hands of the Russians. He preferred 
to make common cause with the mountaineers, after he had 
sought in vain to arouse the grandees of Georgia into insur- 
rection against Russia. They would not consent to rise unless 
supported by a foreign power, for what could the population 
of Cartwell, which only embraced 200,000 souls, effect against 
the colossal might of Russia ? Georgia had been too much 
devastated by the recent expedition of Aga-Mehmed-Khan to 
be able to offer an enduring or a succcessful resistance to the 
power of Russia. 

The failure of the plans of the enterprising Czarevitsch 
Alexander, must be attributed to this cause, and not to the 
pretended sympathies of these nobles with Russia. As a last 
resort he joined the mountaineers, to find in these ancient foes 
of his fatherland, a support in his undertakings against Rus- 
sia. His projects had been defeated alike in Persia and Tur- 
key : both these nations, having too vivid a recollection of the 
Russian arms, and both being too exhausted by recent struggles, 
to encounter the hazards of war again so soon, refused to 
help him. 

Alexander was hospitably received at Schuschka by Ibra- 
him-Khan, the ruler of Karabagh, and strained every nerve to 
sow the seeds of insurrection among the mountaineers. An 
equal hatred of the Russians identified his views with Omar ? 
the redoubtable Khan of the Avars, and he was the originator 
of several successful expeditions undertaken by this powerful 
prince, whose victorious standard was joined by most of the 
population of Daghestan. 

The autumn of 1800 was destined by Alexander and Omar 



RUSSIAN INJUSTICE. 29 

Khan for the accomplishment of a decisive stroke in Georgia. 
About 20,000 men, the flower being composed of the excellent 
cavalry of Lesghistan, mustered under the orders of Omar. As 
Alexander had a large party of adherents among the Georgian 
nobles, the Russians would have lost Georgia, had they not re- 
ceived early intelligence of the project. 

General Lazaref at the head of a freshly-arrived corps, gained 
a sanguinary battle on the banks of the Jora, over the moun- 
taineers (especially through the agency of his numerous artil- 
lery), which led shortly afterwards to the incorporation of Geor- 
gia with Russia. 

The subsequent attempts of Alexander to drive the Russians 
from Georgia, invariably met with the greatest sympathy on 
the part of the people, who hated the Russian rule, but they 
all failed owing to the overwhelming force of his colossal op- 
ponent. 

A widely-spread conspiracy of the Georgian nobles was un- 
luckily detected in 1832, and suppressed at its birth, some of 
the chief conspirators, consisting of the members of the distin- 
guished families of Tschawtschewadse, Eristaw, Andronikow, 
Tschalekaiew, and others, being the victims of frightful punish- 
ments, whilst the severest measures were adopted to prevent all 
future attempts at sedition in Georgia. 

Our limits prevent us from dwelling at greater length on the 
oppression of Georgia, though the subject might fill a volume. 
We shall give another valuable contribution to the catalogue of 
Russian glories in the treatment of one of the Lesghian tribes 
called the Jelissui. The sultans of this little tribe and territory 
after being under Georgian rule, and suffering considerably 
from the depredations of neighbouring tribes, came eventually 
to be happy vassals under the paternal protection of Russia, 
The Czars, conscious of the importance of their territory on the 
borders of the hostile Lesghians, showered orders and decora- 
tions upon them, and spared no pains to keep them quiet. 

It speaks volumes, therefore, in favour of the mild and gentle 
3 



30 RUSSIAN INJUSTICE. 

sway of Muscovy, that the last Sultan, Daniel, — a young hand- 
some major-general in the Russian service*, — where he was often 
seen dashing and fascinating in balls and assemblies, suddenly 
disappeared in the winter of 1844, and the spring'of the same 
year, raised the standard of rebellion in his own country, send- 
ing bac*k his badges of Russian rank and distinction, and de- 
claring himself the sworn enemy of the Muscovite. 

The Russian troops under General Schwarz found every- 
where a most determined resistance ; a short but bloody con- 
flict ensued, and victory declared for the Russians, Jelissui, the 
capital of the country, being stormed by the brave Colonel Bel- 
gard. This conquest was accompanied by horrors which baffle 
all description ; the bellies of pregnant women were ripped open, 
children were spitted on the point of the bayonets, girls were 
violated in the open street by the bestial soldiery, and after 
assuaging the lust of their tormentors, w T ere put to death. 

Sultan Daniel fled to the Lesghian mountains, and was re- 
ceived by Schamyl with open arms. He has since become one 
of the most dreaded Murid chiefs, a circumstance that will ap 
pear very surprising to the reader. 

An amiable German, who, though admitting the Russians 
to be dangerous neighbours, casts a long lingering look behind, 
ere he breaks with these northern barbarians, has the presump- 
tion to assert, — that many of the bad qualities of the Circassians * 
may be well excused by comparing them with the Russians, 
including their cruelty in war, for the Russians have hitherto 
taught the tribes of the Caucasus anything but lessons of hu- 
manity. Neither the devastating incursions of General Sass on 
the Kouban, nor the tiger-like rage with which the army corps 
butchered their prisoners at the storming of Achulko, nor the 
actions of the Russians on the Circassian coast, have been 
adapted to lead the mountaineers to a more civilized mode of 
warfare. A foreign officer in the Russian service, one day re- 
lated the following pleasing scene to our amiable German, de- 
scribing, an event that had occurred a few years before, and that 



RUSSIAN INJUSTICE. 31 

he had witnessed himself : — "A battalion under the command 
of General M f (the cowardly German is afraid of mention- 
ing the name for fear of the secret police) was occupied on some 
military works on the coast of the Black Sea, not far from the 
fortress of Ardler. A Turkish slave-trader, with thirty or forty 
Circassian girls, fell into the hands of the Russians. These un- 
fortunate creatures were one and all violated by the Russian 
officers and soldiers, although the general had forbidden it with 
a laugh. The neighbouring mountaineers trooped together at 
the cry of the poor girls, but did not muster strong enough to 
attack the Russians, and were forced to be witnesses of the dis- 
graceful scene, without taking their revenge." Never had the 
Circassians been guilty of similar enormities to the Cossack girls 
whom they captured. But it can hardly surprise a German 
naturalist, if occurrences of this description excite the revenge- 
ful mountaineers to make fearful reprisals, and it may not be 
quite impossible even for a member of the Peace Society to 
conceive the reason why the war in Circassia has assumed such 
a desperate and relentless form. 

Two British travellers, who have of late years visited Arme- 
nia, relate that, in the year 1829, Kar, Bayazeed, Van, Moush, 
Erzeroum, and Beyrbout were occupied by the Russians, who 
evacuated this part of Armenia when the treaty of Adrianople 
was -concluded. Confiding in the promises of a Christian Em- 
peror, 69,000 Christian Armenian families were induced to 
leave the Mahometan territory, and to come under the happy 
protection of the Czar. One of these travellers has ridden over 
their ruined houses, and beheld with grief and indignation the 
ruin and desecration of their temples, which had been respected 
by the infidel Turk, and destroyed by the Christian Muscovite. 
The majority of the Armenians who migrated into Russia, 
were removed to crowded or unhealthy districts near the Black 
Sea, and perished from want or sickness, and the small number 
of survivors have strained every nerve to return to the land of 
their fathers, and enjoy the greater liberality and charity of 
Mahometan rule. 



32 RUSSIAN INJUSTICE. 

Analogous instances are so numerous in the East, that it 
would fill a volume to describe them. It will suffice here to 
mention, that many colonies of Christian Cossacks have taken 
refuge, of their own accord, under the milder sway of the 
Sultan in Bulgaria, that when some peasantry of Bulgaria have 
been seduced into migrating into the happy dominions of the 
Czar, they have invariably regretted their folly and striven to 
retrace their steps, and that the Roman ani of the Danubian 
Principalities have learnt, by bitter experience, to look on 
the Turks as their saviours and the Russians as their persecu- 
tors. > 

Susan net, in the Revue des Deux Mondes, (v. xxvi, p. 74,) 
asserts that the Russians lost from 4000 to 6000 men at the 
siege of Achulko, and more than 100 officers, killed and 
wounded. Officers well acquainted with the mountaineers 
assured this French legitimist that the influence of Schamyl 
over his people is immense. Men whom he appoints to execute 
any order are not deterred by any dangers ; if Schamyl com- 
mands, they only think of obeying without caring for their 
lives. In a conversation with General Golovin, he expresses 
himself astonished to find that this Russian officer agreed 
with him, in thinking it impossible to subdue Daghestan and 
Circassia completely, without annihilating the native population. 

Two years before his visit six Russian forts had fallen into 
the hands of the mountaineers, though each defended by 500 
men and a numerous artillery. In Daghestan there are no 
forts, but the number of Russian victims in the war is frightful. 
The annual number of men that died there, amounted to 12,000, 
and in a recent skirmish, under General Golafieff, on the banks 
of the Terek, eighteen officers were killed or wounded though 
only 100 privates were hit. So terrible is the loss of Russian 
officers in the Caucasus. 

Baron Hahn was sent in 1840 to bring Georgia and Arme- 
nia under the general laws of the Empire, but this incorporation of 
the Caucasian provinces in the customs system of Russia has 



RUSSIAN INJUSTICE. 33 

caused much dissatisfaction and was very impolitic. This 
French writer says, that 160,000 Russian troops in 1840 were 
unable to bring to order a single tribe, and that it is impossible 
for Russia to master Daghestan or Circassia by arms. 

With regard to the Russian attempts at converting these 
grievous heathens to the holy and orthodox Russo-Greek Church, 
they have hitherto met with somewhat indifferent success. In 
Georgia, which is and has been a Christian country long before 
the advent of Russian protection, foreigners inform us that at 
Tirlis the knout is now introduced as a punishment by the cha- 
rities of Muscovy, and when a poor victim is tortured in the 
city, his fearful screams resound throughout the town. Possi- 
bly they find an echo in the mountains as the harbinger of 
Christian blessings conferred by Russia on its vassals. One 
of the best authorities' on the Caucasus informs us that some time 
ago every person who submitted to be baptized into the Greek 
Church (what a privilege) obtained besides a silver rouble and 
a new shirt as a reward for his exemplary piety. This had 
some resemblance to the method by which a large body of Sla- 
vonians were converted to Christianity some centuries ago, when 
all who underwent baptism were rewarded with a large allow- 
ance of brandy. It happened, however, that among the small 
people of the Ossetians in the Central Caucasus three times 
as many silver roubles and shirts were given away as there were 
inhabitants in the statistical lists. Hence, if we assume that half 
the population on the average was converted, it follows that 
each candidate for baptism must have undergone the holy sa- 
crament six times. At that period the piety of the people of 
Ossetia was reckoned by shirts. 

Other protected Caucasians who seem to have a shrewd in- 
sight into the spiritual and moral superiority of their protectors, 
are recorded to have been once exhorted to severe fasting by 
the sleek and jovial Russo-Greek monks. The inhabitants 
fairly enough, consented to adopt the practice, if one of the 
holy men would set them the example. Accordingly they shut 



34 RUSSIAN INJUSTICE. 

him up two or three days, without even bread or water, leaving 
nothing but a splendid dish of roast beef by his side. The reve- 
rend gentleman resisted the desires of the flesh and the malice 
of the devil, for one day ; but his virtue could not hold out be- 
yond that, and on the second day, he flew at the roast beef and 
satisfied his cravings, whereupon the natives thought example 
better than precept. Nor can w r e wonder at the small way that 
Christianity has made among those dreadful sinners, when we 
find that the amiable Autocrat of all the Russias has sent many 
thousands of his refractory children who prefer the Bible or 
reason to the mummery of the orthodox Church, to starve and 
to freeze among the coldest and most arid districts of the Cau- 
casian isthmus. Such an example of Christian charity, together 
with the treatment of the Armenians previously referred to, must 
greatly assist in the praiseworthy task of reducing the free 
mountaineers of the Caucasus under the angelic sway of the 
Holy Synod. 

Spencer, at page 79 of his Western Caucasus, vol. i., says : 
— " Even though shut out from every aid, pecuniary, moral, or 
military — debarred from receiving the most essential necessaries 
of life — they have successfully maintained the unequal contest, 
destroyed the best disciplined troops of their invader, and car- 
ried their victorious arms into the very territory of their op- 
pressor ; a resistance, when we remember the magnitude of the 
force employed against them, and their own limited resources 
(being too frequently from the want of ammunition obliged to 
have recourse to the arrow and the sword), unequalled, perhaps, 
in the annals of any nation." He goes on to speak of their 
superhuman exertions as the principal check to Russian ambi- 
tion in the East, and their country he pronounces the key to 
Persia, Turkey, and India. 

In another place, Mr. Spencer speaks of Djook as being 
equally celebrated with Soudjook-Kale in the annals of Circas- 
sian victories ; so much so that nearly every family in the neigh- 
bouring hamlets possess some trophy of the defeat of the in- 



RUSSIAN INJUSTICE. 35 

vaders. Only the year before his visit, they took several pieces 
of cannon, and cut to pieces from between 2000 to 3000 
Russians, who had the temerity to advance into the interior, 
(p. 222.) 

At p. 339, v. i.. of Spencer's Circassia, the reader will find 
the Circassians 1 declaration of Independence, addressed by the 
confederated princes of Circassia to the sovereigns of Europe 
and Asia. This document, one of the most important in history, 
presents a singular contrast to the bland and honest arguments 
and expressions that characterise the pages of Muscovite diplo- 
macy ; there we find a noble people protesting against oppres- 
sion in the name of heaven and humanity, and appealing to 
the eternal principles of justice, to the sympathies and sense of 
the world in support of their independence. The reader knows 
how well Lords Aberdeen and Palmerston have responded to 
this appeal which has now been before the world for sixteen 
years. They were not so deaf to the whines of the dastardly 
Greeks, who show their gratitude by the usual baseness of 
Eastern Christians — a race of traitors and of thieves. 

When the national flag of the confederated tribes was 
raised, thousands of swords flew in the air, and one universal, 
long-continued shout of joy burst from the immense multitude. 
Never was there a greater display of enthusiasm, nor a fiercer 
determination exhibited by a people to defend their fatherland. 
It was like the deposition of the house of Hapsburg at Debrec- 
zin by Kossuth ; but England there and here and everywhere 
gives up heroes to be devoured by the jaws of despotism 
through the idiocy and connivance of Downing Street. Spen- 
cer was deeply impressed by the patriotic speeches of the ora- 
tors, and the enthusiasm of the people, and compares them to 
Switzerland under Tell and Winkelried, and at the Ruttli. "I 
execrated from my soul," he says, " that accursed ambition so 
prolific of misery. How deeply must we commiserate the fate 
J of this unhappy people, so long exposed to all its ravages ! In 
truth it is absolutely frightful to contemplate the dreadful power 



36 RUSSIAN INJUSTICE. 

against which this handful of people have to contend." * * * * 
Will Europe, he continues in another place, regard with indif- 
ference the unequal contest now carried on against the only- 
people who have offered a valorous resistance to Muscovite 
efforts of aggrandisement among the myriads subdued by her 
policy or arms. Impossible ! will England — will Europe sanc- 
tion this crusade against the rights of a free people ? The 
gallant captain cannot believe it. But we say of course it will, 
because we have a profligate ministry and a corrupt adminis- 
tration. He continues that since Peter the Great and down to 
Nicholas, Russia has braved the obloquies of perpetrating the 
most perfidious measures that ever disgraced a government.* 

* A SPECIMEN OF CIRCASSIAN WAR-SONGS. 

Eaise, oh raise, the banner high I 
Arm, arm all, for Atteghei ! f 
Guard the valley, guard the dell, 
Hearth and home, farewell, farewell! 

"We will dare the battle strife, 
We will gladly peril life ; 
Death or liberty's the cry, 
Win the day or nobly die! 

Who would fly when danger -calls ? 
Freemen's hearts are freedom's walls ! 
Heav'n receives alone the brave, 
Angels guard the patriot's grave I 

Beats then here a traitor's heart, 
Duped by wily Moscov.art, 
Who his land for gold would give; 
Let him die or childless live ! 

Hark, oh hark! the cannons roar! 
Foe meets foe, to part no more I 
Quail, ye slaves, 'neath freemen's glance, 
Victory's ours ! advance ! advance ! 

f Native name for Circassia. 



RUSSIAN INJUSTICE. 3*7 

It has been the opinion of many eminent scholars,* that the 
Circassians once ruled over and peopled all the neighbouring 
coasts of the Black Sea, including the Crimea. 

Speaking of the mode in which the Russians carry on the 
war in the northern part of the Caucasus, Bell describes it as 
atrociously barbarous. , Detachments of men enter the vil- 
lages by night, and not only carry off the women, children, and 
cattle, but slay the men and mutilate their bodies. 

Dr. Koch's work is called Reise durch Russland nach dem 
KauTcasischen Isthmus in den Jahren, 1836, 183 Y, u. 1838. 
This author (v. i, p. 204,) attempts, like most of his short- 
sighted, misty, and wordy countrymen, to defend Russian ag- 
gression in the Caucasus, maintaining that her efforts are mag- 
nanimous, and that she tranquillises and greatly benefits the 
countries that she incorporates. In another place he attempts 
to show that Russia has no wish to subdue Germany with her 
bayonets, and that all her encroachments are in the East, and 
he loses no opportunity of discharging his venom at the interested 
trading spirit of England. God knows what can make our slavish 
neighbours such ardent admirers of northern despotism, and so 
stupidly dead to their own interests and to the cause of justice 
and freedom throughout the world as to cast stones at their 
only friends and protectors, the English. But they may rest 
assured that their day of calamity is not far off if they proceed 
in their present blind and unmanly course, and that England 
will raise no saving hand to protect them from that aggression 
which- they so loudly praise, unless they shake off their coward- 
ice and selfishness, and show that they have an atom of spirit, 
patriotism, and courage flowing in their veins. Prussia incurred 
the contempt of the world by her neutrality and temporising 
policy under Npaoleon, and unless she is careful, the great 
struggle on which we are entering, will leave her shorn of all 
her encroachments, a tributary duchy dependant on Poland, as 

* Spencer's West. Cauc. vol. i. p. 11. 
8* 



38 RUSSIAN INJUSTICE. 

she once was. The same remark applies to the Austrian Gov- 
ernment. 

Dr. Koch admits that the whole of Asia is prowled over by 
Russian agents in disguise, paving the way for her advance by 
conquest and by lies, and so long as men value civilisation, liberty, 
morality, and humanity, history will applaud the efforts of the 
western powers to overthrow this devouring Moloch, and brand 
with infamy those neutral powers that helped her in her rob- 
beries by their cowardly selfishness. 

As an evidence of the accuracy of those mild and meek 
Germans who complacently expatiate on the blessings of Rus- 
sian protection and influence, we will just mention that the 
mountaineers are indebted to their contact with the Russians, 
for the introduction of vodki or brandy. We have alluded in 
another work * to the delightful state of spirituality pervading 
the Russian empire, owing to the prevalence of intoxication ; 
and the philanthropic members of the Peace Society must hail 
with delight the intelligence that drunkenness, with its attend- 
ant advantages, has made great progress in some Caucasian 
tribes, through Muscovite influence, and that even in the 
Tschetschnaja, SchamyFs home, secret stills are in active opera- 
tion, and many of the enlightened mountaineers are ready to 
sell the six new shirts oflf their backs by which they were 
bought over to be baptized, in order to procure the Muscovite 
and Christian poison. Though Schamyl is a strict water 
drinker, and a stern ruler, it is evidently to be hoped that he 
will not discountenance or suppress this hallowed custom of 
drinking, the harbinger of the other blessings or scourges of 
Russian Christianity and civilization. 

* Russia as it is. . 



CHAPTER IV. 

SCHAMYL. 

We come now to the main wheel of the whole machinery 
of resistance in the Caucasus. The Circassians of the Western 
Caucasus are a gallant and chivalrous race, but they are in want 
of unity, and are comparatively secondary in their influence and 
importance in the Caucasus. The focus of all resistance is in 
Daghestan, among the enthusiastic Tschetschensians, who are 
stimulated by the twofold impulse of patriotism and faith, added 
to the heroism natural to those mountaineers, and organized 
into a poweiful system of resistance by the master mind of one 
man. 

That man is the prophet, sultan, and general of the Cau- 
casus. The common unadorned account of this man that is 
most widely circulated in Europe describes him as the founder 
of a new sect, whose advocates are called Murids, who wear as 
a distinguishing badge white caps, whilst the other Caucasian 
champions wear brown, blue, or yellow fur caps ; but as a liberal 
and noble-hearted German remarks, people have forgotten what 
is under these white caps. 

He proceeds to launch forth into a highly-interesting ana- 
lysis of the Murid faith and its source the Sufi, or mystical sects 
of Persia. Our space will only suffer us to give a very brief 
account of this religious system. The religious enthusiasm of 
the Eastern Caucasus is not a wild, uncultivated spirit of fana- 
ticism ; but these barbarians, as the Russians style them, have 
theological schools, which have scarcely ever been equalled in 



40 SCHAMYL. 

boldness of ideas and logical acuteness. The solitary life led 
by many of these mountaineers" among the grandest scenes of 
nature must tend to encourage the propensity to contemplation 
and mysticism, and accordingly there has been a considerable 
body of mystics among the Lesghians and Tschetschensians for 
some years past. 

The religious teachers of the Caucasus have not been un- 
acquainted with the Mahometan philosophical and theologi- 
cal works, and the doctrine of extasy and spiritual exaltation, 
called Sufism, when the faithful hold direct converse with the 
Deity, had been introduced by the Persians among those war- 
like tribes, and had fanned the flames of patriotism. Immersed 
in these radiant dreams, the Ulemas of Daghestan founded in a 
great measure a new religion, or rather they reformed Islam, 
and gave it a form differing from and in advance of the law of 
Mahomet, in which the two sects of Ali and Omar blend to- 
gether, and which forms the present basis of the political'' orga- 
nization founded by Schamyl. Some time-serving German 
writers affirm that it is not religious fanaticism only that gives 
Schamyl such absolute power over the clans, but also the terror 
and severity of his government, adding that he levies voluntary 
and compulsory tribute, that he punishes most severely all re- 
fractory Aouls and traitors, that all the tribes are far from par- 
tial'to his authority, and that every tenth man is bound to an- 
swer his summons to serve under his flag. They also inform 
us that every family pays a silver rouble as tax, and that 
one-tenth of the harvest accrues to the magazines of their chief- 
tain. 

It is certain that, contending with such a power as Russia, 
and with the refractory nature and poverty of these mountain 
clans, Schamyl could not have triumphantly opposed his foes 
and saved his country and his faith, without introducing a severe 
discipline and organization. But it is somewhat out of place 
in the pusillanimous proteges of Russia, and the slaves of. 
Hapsburg and Hohenzollerns, who have broken their oaths 



SCHAMYL. 41 

with their unhappy vassals, who are ground down by oppression 
and tortured by spies and agents, after their champions and 
heroes have been hanged and shot, — it is ill-timed, we say, in 
these men to censure the salutary severity of Schamyl, which 
has saved the Caucasus from the iron yoke of Muscovy, under 
which Germany now groans. It may not be amiss to add, that 
unlike (ierman royalties, Schamyl, on the testimonies of our 
amiable Teutonic friends, is so poor, that his person is even 
neglected and dirty, for instead of following the patriotic exam- 
ple of Kaisers and Konigs, he devotes his money to his subjects' 
good, and not to himself. 

This great man was born in the year 1*797, in the Aoul of 
Himri, and was thirty-seven years old when he became chief of 
the Tschetschensians. He was distinguished at an early age 
for his unyielding temper, his grave and reserved character, his 
thirst for knowledge, and his ambition. He is described by 
some*authorities as naturally of a weak constitution, which he 
has hardened by exercise and temperance ; but many phases in 
his life seem to prove that he has naturally an iron frame. He 
used to devote whole days to solitary meditation, even as a boy, 
and the sage Mullah Djelaleddin succeeded in inspiring him with 
a love of the Koran. Initiated in the doctrine of the Sufis, he 
excited a great enthusiasm in his pupil, and prepared him for 
great achievements. This education took effect, and from the 
day when Schamyl stood forth as the successor of Hamsad Bey, 
all heads bowed before their master. 

Schamyl is not unworthy of being at the head of a people 
and the founder of a sect which has pronounced him to be a 
Prophet. He is a man of middle height, of a fair complexion, 
with auburn hair and beard ; he has grey eyes, a delicately 
chiselled nose, and a small mouth. A marble-like impassibi- 
lity, which never forsakes him, even in moments of the greatest 
danger, pervades his whole person, and especially his walk and 
the immoveable carriage of his arms. He addresses enemies 
and criminals without a trace of emotion or revenge. These 



42 SCHAMY1, 

characteristics may originate partly in his conviction that all 
his words and actions are immediately inspired and directed by 
God ; he eats little, drinks nothing but water, though contact 
with the Russians has poisoned his people with a love of brandy ; 
he only allows himself a few hours' sleep, and passes all his 
leisure time in reading the Koran and in prayer ; but when he 
speaks, the Daghestan poet, Bersek Bey, describes him«as having 
"Lightning. in his eyes and flowers on his lips." 

He' appears to be, like the hero of Hungary, a perfect mas- 
ter of that Oriental eloquence which is adapted to rouse masses 
of Mussulmans and Magyars, though it w r ould not probably be 
relished by the cotton and treason spinning peace society or the 
enlightened columns of the Times. 

It is proper to add that other German writers protected 
and crammed by Muscovite officers, circulate various equivocal 
and unfavourable statements affecting Schamyl, which are 
entitled to the same sort of attention that Nicholas Jtaid to 
Prussia in his gentlemanly conversations with Sir Hamilton Sey- 
mour. 

In the first years of his government Schamyl dwelt in the 
little fortified village of Achulko, where he had caused a stone 
house with two stories to be built in the European fashion by 
Russian deserters and prisoners. He was at that time so poor 
that the soldiers were obliged to procure him the necessaries of 
life ; yet the power of religious enthusiasm made him as mighty 
as if he had the command of tons of gold. But the tribes of 
the Caucasus, unlike Christendom, prefer to serve God rather 
than Mammon. Schamyl has only to nod, and his Murids are 
prepared to encounter death. Even Scheik Mansur, who, fifty 
years before, inspired the mountaineers with his own heroic 
faith and patriotism, and stimulated them to desperate resistance 
against Russia, was only a renowned and formidable warrior. 
But Schamyl is not only the Sultan and General of the Tschet- 
schensians, he has also been declared the prophet of Daghestan 
since 1834, where the war- cry since that date has been, "Mo- 



SCHAMYL. 43 

hammed is the first prophet of Allah and Schamyl is the 
second." 

The capture of Achulko, which General Grabbe had anti- 
cipated as the death-blow to the influence of Schamyl, was the 
means of raising his consideration to the highest pitch by the 
apparently miraculous nature of his escape. Let the reader 
imagine the bold chieftain, the only survivor of the devoted de- 
fenders of that Aoul re-appearing among his people, at the very 
moment that they received the intelligence of the total destruc- 
tion of Achulko. They were fully convinced that he was buried 
under its ruins, when he suddenly strode into their midst ! It 
was clear that the finger of God was there, and the divine mis- 
sion of their leader was henceforth based on an unshakeable 
foundation. No victory could have raised him higher in their 
eyes than this defeat. 

After the loss of Achulko, Schamyl visited the Circassians 
in the Western Caucasus, projecting an alliance and combined 
operations between them and their countrymen in the Eastern 
Caucasus. Though the Circassians entertain the same hatred 
to the Russians as the other clans, serious impediments were 
found to a joint organization of all the mountaineers, owing to 
jealousies, difference of idioms, and the religious indifference or 
paganism of the Western Caucasians. Thus for the time, though 
Schamyl met with a hearty welcome, he could not effect his ob- 
ject. At a later date, however, his daring irruption into Ka- 
baVda shook the whole population of the mountains. More- 
over, on receiving the intelligence of the great defeat of the 
Russians by Schamyl near Dargo, the Circassians were stimula- 
ted to attack the forts on the coast of the Black Sea, of which 
they captured several, performing prodigies of valour whilst 
storming them. 

When Prince Woronzof was appointed Commander-in- 
Chief in the Caucasus, Schamyl was no longer the insignificant 
mountain chieftain : his power had become immense. The 
Avars, the Kists, the Kumucks, and numerous other trbes of 



44 SCHAMYL. 

Lesghistan and Daghestan were roused by the burning eloquence 
of the Prophet to unite with their old rivals the Tschetschen- 
sians. Though at the beginning he had only been the leader of 
a small band of followers, he was now the ruler of a people. It 
is evident that to accomplish this, the great mountain chieftain 
must have been endowed with a rare political genius and the 
strongest religious conviction. 

Schamyl is not only a brave and a skilful commander — 
events have proved that he is also a sagacious and clear-sighted 
lawgiver, otherwise he would never have succeeded in subjecting 
the chieftains of the other tribes, in introducing a theocratic 
monarchy in the midst of barbarism, in uniting hostile clans, in 
giving to all one common faith, in accustoming wild, irregular 
cavalry to systematic tactics, and in forming substantial and 
permanent institutions. 

This work has been accomplished by Schamyl. The new 
doctrine that he preached reconciled the antagonistic sects of 
Omar and of Ali ; his victories dazzled the sons of the moun- 
tains and humbled his enemies, as well as the pride of the 
native princes. All the tribes that acknowledged the same 
faith were united by him in the same civil organization, and the 
names of the petty territories and clans began to disappear. 

The territory, under the rule of Schamyl, is at present divi- 
ded into twenty provinces, each of which is superintended by a 
naib or governor. All these naibs are not however clothed 
with equal authority, but only four of them, who are the most 
confidential and faithful friends of the Prophet. These men 
are regarded as the sovereign rulers of their subjects, whilst 
the others are obliged to refer to the chief for a sanction to their 
decrees. 

The organization of the army is represented as a master- 
piece of acuteness and discrimination, being precisely adapted 
to secure unity of discipline, without diminishing the warlike 
ardour of the individuals composing it. Each naib brings 300 
horses into the field, and the conscription is effected as we have 



SCHAMYL. 45 

previously related, so that every ten families furnish one trooper, 
and the family to which he belongs is freed from taxation, dur- 
ing the time, whilst his equipment and maintenance, are provided 
for by the nine remaining families. 

Such is the standing army, but besides this there is also a 
militia or national guard. All the male inhabitants of the 
Aouls are exercised in the use of arms and in horsemanship 
from the age of fifteen to fifty. Jt is their special duty to de- 
fend their villages when they are attacked, but also under cer- 
tain circumstances they are bound to follow the Prophet in his 
distant expeditions. On such occasions every trooper of the 
regular army commands the men of the other nine families who 
support him. 

Hamsad Bey was the first who formed a corps of Russian 
and Polish deserters, including many officers. Scharnyl has 
increased and extended this legion, which consists now of 
4000 men of all nations. His body-guard consists in a band 
of 1000 picked Murids, who receive a monthly pay of about 
two dollars, and obtain a share of any booty captured. These 
life-guards are called Murtosigats, and * all the Aouls contend 
for the honour of having some of their sons in this select 
corps. 

Scharnyl never leaves his residence without an escort of 
500 warriors, belonging to this chosen band in whom he places 
the most unlimited confidence, and who are reported to perform 
miracles of bravery. Scharnyl only admits men into its ranks 
who are perfectly devoted to his cause and faith. They must 
be unmarried and give all their time and energy to the defence 
and propagation of the faith. They are also required to follow 
the chaste and abstemious habits of their chief, and give much 
time to religious duties. 

The prophet appears a man of the most glowing faith and 
holy life, circumstances which, it is hoped, will not deprive him 
of the sympathies of civilized Europe. Whenever he is about 
to undertake an important enterprise, he retires to some cavern 



46 SCHAMYL. 

or a mosque, where he passes whole weeks fasting and praying, 
in immediate intercourse with God. 

This wonderful man has introduced posts throughout Dag- 
hestan ; and to forward official intelligence every village is 
required to hold some horses and messengers in constant readi- 
ness, who must be provided with a pass, signed and sealed 
by a naib, and gallop over the greatest distance with fabulous 
speed. 

Schamyl has adopted some practices from the Russians, 
including the decorations of orders and ribands and a hierarchy 
of ranks. The leaders of a hundred men who distinguish 
themselves by their bravery receive circular silver medals, 
with striking poetical legends; leaders of 300 men obtain 
triangular medals, and leaders of 500 men are decorated with 
silver epaulettes. Up to 1842, swords of honour were the only 
decorations that were admitted, and were worn on the right 
side. At present, leaders of a thousand men have the rank of 
captain, and those comirianding a larger number are generals. 
A piece of felt is sown on the arm or back of cowards. 

In the first instance*, the income of Schamyl consisted only 
of the booty that he took, of which, according to traditional 
usage, one-fifth accrued to the leader ; now, however, regular 
taxes have been introduced. The lands which had previously 
been devoted to the mosques, the priests, and dervishes, are 
now appropriated to the state ; but the priests receive a regular 
income as a compensation, whilst the able-bodied dervishes 
are drafted into the militia, and the infirm were sent out of 
Daghestan. 

The most eminent officers of Schamyl at the present mo- 
ment are Achwerdu Mahomed, Hadschi-Murad, and Ulubey 
Mullah. 

The prophet has drawn up a special code of laws, in which 
the punishment for military offences, theft, murder, treason, 
cowardice, &c. are accurately determined. Capital punishments 
admit of three degrees of severity proportioned to the gravity of 
the crime. 



SCHAMYL. 47 

Schamyl is a man of very moderate and chaste habits, and 
he often passes days and nights together without any sleep, in 
a state of religious extasy, which though offensive to positive 
philosophers and German metaphysicians, has been proved 
throughout history to be a real and exalted phase of human 
nature developed in the chosen servants of the Most High. 
Though some unkind writers insist upon his having three wives, 
a well informed traveller asserts that he has only one, and that 
he is peculiarly remarked for his sexual abstinence. 

Other unkindly writers have pretended that he is avari- 
cious ; but a German liberal, a rare honour to his country, 
vindicates the hero, by showing that his treasures are accumu- 
lated to support the expenses of the war. His most deadly 
enemies cannot deny that Schamyl has done wonders to im- 
prove the state of his country. The law of retaliation is more 
relentless in Daghestan than any other part of the Caucasus, 
even exceeding the Corsican vendetta in endurance, families 
having often continued in hostility for ages from this cause. 
But Schamyl has succeeded in many cases in introducing 
pecuniary fines as a substitute for this practice, and though his 
severe justice has raised him many enemies, it is certain that 
his countrymen would not have recovered and retained their 
freedom and their faith without the resistless rigour of his ad- 
ministration. 



CHAPTER V. 

schamyl's adventures. 

Having attempted an outline of Schamyl's system, we shall 
proceed to lay before the reader some of the most remarkable 
adventures in the life of this chieftain and reformer. On the 
18th October, 1832, the last successful storming of the moun- 
tain village of Himra was effected by the Russians, who pene- 
trated into the smoking and blood-stained ruins, desperately 
defended by the chieftain Kasi Mullah and Murid Schamyl. 
The struggle had already lasted for many days ; on both sides 
prodigies of valour had been performed ; but notwithstanding 
the superior discipline and force of the Russians, rendered still 
more formidable by their artillery, all proposals of surrender had 
been rejected by the heroic garrison. With frantic enthusiasm, 
and singing verses of the Koran, they sent the deadly bullet 
into the ranks of their foes. The triple wall of this eagle's nest 
was surrounded, and its towers were battered down by the 
Muscovite cannon, but Kasi Mullah and Schamyl would not 
listen to a word about surrender. Then broke the morning 
dawn of the 18th of October, and with it came the storm, which, 
after a most desperate and bloody conflict, placed the strong- 
hold in the hands of the Russians. Kasi Mullah and many 
Murids fell by the side of Schamyl; our hero himself was 
wounded by a bullet and the thrust of a bayonet, but he cut his 
way through the enemy, disappeared in some incomprehensible 
way, and two years later the Caucasus resounded once more 
with the fame of his name. 



49 

The Russians found the body of Kasi Mullah, the Murid 
Saint, whose mantle descended on the shoulders of Schamyl, 
pierced by many bullets, and in an attitude that filled the fier- 
cest soldiers with respect and fear. With the left hand he had 
grasped his long and beautiful beard, whilst his right hand 
pointed to heaven. His countenance expressed perfect repose, 
serenity and cheerfulness, as if he had expired, not in the tu- 
mult of battle, but in a beautiful dream. Seeing that all was 
lost, he had cast himself on his knees in prayer, with his hand 
directed to the East, when the fatal ball struck him. 

It was long erroneously maintained that Schamyl had been 
taken prisoner by the Russians at Himri, brought to Petersburg, 
made a Russian officer, and afterwards sent off to fight against 
his countrymen. It was added, that having been offended by 
his superiors, he had taken the first opportunity of passing over 
to the enemies of Russia. It has also been affirmed, that a 
wounded Russian officer, who was captured and brought to 
Schamyl, had been liberated by him because he had found him 
to be one of his oldest and best friends. All these and many 
additional statements are mere fabrications as regards Schamyl. 

Yet the story is true, but it refers to another man, Daniel 
Bey, who is now a friend and officer of Schamyl, and whose 
history has, been related in a previous page. 

It may well be supposed that the mysterious escape of Scha- 
myl from Himri, gave rise to all sorts of wonderful reports 
among the glowing mountaineers of Daghestan. One of these 
miraculous legends relates that Schamyl was really killed at the 
storming of Himri, but that Allah breathed into him the breath 
of life again, to give a visible sign by the resurrection of the 
Murid, that he was destined to be the leader of his fellow- 
believers. 

The life of Schamyl was again preserved in a miraculous 
manner in 1834. The theatre of this occurrence was Chunsak, 
the residence of the Khan of the Avars. The Khanum* Pas- 

* Wife and widow of a Khan. 



50 

chubike, who was devoted to the Russians, had rejected Kasi 
Mullah in 1830, but Hamsad i Bey, his follower, subsequently 
took possession of Chunsak, and put to death the two sons of 
the Khan treacherously, together with their mother. 

Avengers are never wanting in Daghestan, and the new 
chief of the Murids was to fall by the hands of two of his most 
intimate and distinguished companions. The two brothers, 
Osman and Hadschi Murad, had been brought up with Omar 
Khan, the eldest son of the Khanum of Chunsak. Stimulated 
to revenge by their own father they smote Hamsad Bey in the 
mosque. Osman fell under the swords of the Murids, but his 
brother escaped and roused the people to insurrection. A gretft 
number of Murids were cut down in the temple, and those who 
escaped fled to the tower. Schamyl was amongst the number. 
They defended themselves with desperate courage, but Hadschi 
Murid issued orders to set the tower on fire, and only two Mu- 
rids escaped the flames. One was the betrayer of the plot, who 
had sworn on the Koran to keep it secret, but yet had revealed 
it to Hadschi Murad. He was overtaken and burnt alive. The 
other was Schamyl who escaped again in some incomprehen- 
sible manner. 

The third escape of Schamyl happened after the storming 
of Achulko, and is related in various ways by Russian and Ger- 
man authorities. We have already narrated the desperate epi- 
sodes which marked that siege, and the heroism displayed by 
its defenders. Comparing the different accounts it is evident 
that after the massacre attending the capture of the village, 
a small band of Murids, including Schamyl, had concealed 
themselves in some neighbouring caverns. As it was the main 
object of General Grabbe to slay or take the chieftain, every 
precaution was taken to prevent his escape ; but the Murids 
who knew that the loss of their leader would be fatal to the 
cause, determined with matchless heroism to sacrifice them- 
selves to save their chief, their country, and their creed. One 
account relates that a body of them dashed down into the tor- 



schamyl's A vestures. 51 

rent Koissu on a raft, and drew off the attention of the Russians 
while Schamyl plunged into the stream, swam over and escaped 
to the hills. The men, of course, were all shot. Another ac- 
count says that some Lesghians were let down by ropes at mid- 
night from the cavern as a decoy, and whilst the Russians who 
took one of them who was disguised for Schamyl, were leading 
them to the general, the prophet slid down the rock into the 
Koissu and escaped, though his foes sent a shower of bullets 
after him. 

Schamyl never revealed how he escaped from Achulko, 
and the people have always regarded his rescue as miraculous. 



CHAPTER VI. 

PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY OF THE CAUCASUS. 

The origin of the word Caucasus is assigned to various lan- 
guages. Some inform us that Pliny describes the word Grau- 
kasus as meaning white with snow. This derivation, however, 
wants further evidence ; it is more probably derived from the 
Persian Koh-Chaf, or Casp, Caspian mountains. The Turks 
call it Kaf-Dagh, the latter word meaning mountains. The na- 
tives apply various significant names to different parts of the 
chain, descriptive of the locality. 

The Caucasus chain extends from theEuxine to the Caspian 
Sea, and falls into two divisions, north-west and south-east. 
Its length from Anapa to Baku is 750, its breadth only 75 
miles, if we do not include the Lower Caucasus, called Ararat. 

The highest summits of the Caucasus are the Elbruz and 
Kasbek. The height of the former is, according to Lenz, 1 6,330 
feet, and that of the latter, according to Parrot and Engelhard, 
14,400 feet. 

A variety of names are given to these two mountains by 
the natives, which our space does not permit us to specify, and 
a variety of beautiful legends are attached to them, of which 
we shall introduce one or two to diminish the dryness of dull 
topography. It is reported that the inaccessible summits of 
the Elbruz have been for ages the abode of Simurg, the grey 
eagle of the gods, overlooking the past with one eye, and the 
ftttllre with the other. When Simurg circles through the air; 
the earth trembles with the mighty stroke of its wings, and the 



PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY. 53 

storms howl and the sea rises in angry surges, and wakes all 
the sleeping spirits of the deep with the roll of its waves. 

Sometimes strange sounds like moaning and lamentations 
descend from the prophetic bird's airy throne, then the song of 
birds is hushed in the groves— the flowers droop their heads, 
the mountain torrent rushes wilder from the heights, and dis- 
mal clouds sadly veil the shining forms of the mountains. 

Yet often sounds like the songs of the blessed resound from 
the misty nest of Simurg, resembling the clash of a thousand 
cymbals. Then the vault of heaven presents its cloudless azure, 
the beams of the sun play like golden thoughts on the white 
brows of the mountains, the roar of the torrents becomes a me- 
lodious murmur, and odoriferous perfumes arise from the flowers, 
sweet as the breath from the mouth of the Peris. 

According to another tradition, Noah's ark first landed on 
the Elbruz, before it reached Ararat, and the cradle of Christ 
is to be found on the Kasbek, where it floats in the air over the 
tent of Abraham. The latter legend adds that a treasure is 
concealed there which has already enticed many persons, whose 
curiosity has invariably been punished by the loss of their eye- 
sight. 

The summit of the Elbruz consists of two peaks, whilst the 
Kasbek has only one, of a conical form. The former was ascended 
on the 23d July, 1-829, by a Kabardan Khillar, who belonged 
to the expedition which General Emanuel had undertaken 
with this view. The loftier summits are generally styled white 
by the natives, and the term black mountains is applied to the 
lower chains nearer the Black and Caspian Seas. 

To ftie eastward of the Elbruz rises a group of five moun- 
tains which are very appropriately called Beschdagh (abbrevia- 
ted Beschtau), for Besch means five and Dagh mountain. The 
same group is called in Russian Piatigorie, from piat five, and 
gora mountain. The central summit is styled Beschtowaja 
Gora. The Maschut is the highest of all ; next comes the Ge- 
lesnaja Gora or Iron-mountain, and then the Smeinaja Gora, 



54 PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY. 

signifying serpent mountain. To the eastward of the latter are 
situated the Barbel, Schah-Dagh, Dast-Dagh, Barba-Dagh, and 
lastly in the vicinity of the Caspian Sea, Besch-Barnaki Dagh, 
or the mountain with five fingers, rising to the height of 3000 
feet. 

The Kasbek is of volcanic origin, and its declivities are 
covered with lava and scoriae. The predominant formation is 
porphyry in the highest strata, including granite, which passes 
into limestone and slate on the east side. 

There are more than four passes leading from Europe to Asia. 
Six roads lead across the mountains, but only two are common- 
ly used. One of them is called the pass of Dariel, known to 
the ancients by the name of Porta Caucasia. The other leads 
along the Caspian Sea, through the pass of Derbend from Kis- 
liar to Baku. 

The most convenient approach, however, to the Caucasus 
is by sea. It is proper to remark that the Black Sea has derived 
its name, not from the colour of its water, but from its tempes- 
tuous character. The ancients regarded the Euxine with terror, 
and modern experience has vindicated its formidable character. 
The most terrible disaster occurred in 1838, when several Rus- 
sian ships of war were cast away near Sukhum-Kaleh, and most 
of their crews drowned or taken captives by the mountaineers. 
The Caspian is stated to be even more dangerous than the 
Euxine. 

Whilst these seas are commanded by the Russians, they 
can evidently obtain supplies and reinforcements easily, whilst 
they blockade and starve their enemies. If once the Black Sea 
is kept open (and it would be treason for England to sKiit it up 
again) Circassia is free for ever. 

Notwithstanding, however, the advantages Russia possessed 
in the exclusive navigation of the Euxine, the expenses and dif- 
ficulty of the war have been enormous. The Russians bring their 
ammunition from Siberia, their provisions down the Volga. 
But the quality of both is often execrable owing to the knavery 



PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY. 55 

of the employes. The English and Turks have also succeeded 
in supplying the Circassians, notwithstanding the blockade. 

No seas exist without tributary rivers. These rivers are ar- 
teries that admit an enemy into the heart of a country, the 
Neva to" Petersburg and the Volga to Moscow. The rivers 
of the Caucasus, fortunately for its tribes, have narrow beds 
and short courses, nor are they generally navigable. Rising at 
a short distance from the sea, their descent is immense, their 
current rapid and broken. In the spring moreover they over- 
flow, and are an impediment to the Russian columns. 

Another peculiarity of the Caucasus is its want of lakes. 
Only one small dne is known on Mount Khoi. The cause of it 
is, that the mountains are too steep and close together for the 
water to collect. 

The three largest rivers of the Caucasus are the Kouban, 
the Terek, and the Kur. The first rises from the Elbruz, and 
after flowing 500 versts, divides into three arms, two of which 
flow into the sea of Azof, and the third into the Euxine. Its 
chief tributaries are the Great Selenschuk, the Laba, and the 
Urub. 2. The Terek takes its source at the Kasbek and flows 
400 versts. It cuts through the pass of Dariel, divides Kabar- 
da into Great and Little Kabardas, and falls near Kisliar into the 
Caspian Sea. Its principal tributaries are the Malka and Sun- 
tscha. 3. The Kur flows 800 versts. It is the deepest of all, 
but generally very narrow. It rises in Turkey, in the mountains 
of Kars, bisects Georgia, and falls near Saljan into the Caspian 
Sea. The Araxes unites with the Kur near Tschebad. 

The Rion cuts through Imeritia and Mingrelia, and after a 
course of 200 versts, falls near Poti into the Black Sea, after 
receiving the Horse river, Tscheni, Tschale, and the Kririla. 

The Koissu runs through Daghestan, under the names of 
Andi, Avar, Kara, Kasikumuk, Koissu, and Sulak. 

The Caucasian regions have splendid advantages of soil, 
climate, and timber, though the charities of Russians prevent 
its "attaining a flourishing condition. The mountains are rich 
in minerals too. 



56 PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY. 

The forests are splendid and* majestic, consisting of oaks, 
beech trees, chestnuts, nut and fig trees, besides which a great 
number of mulberry trees grow wild. Peach, apricot, apple, 
pear, and cherry trees are also planted and carefully tended. 

Amongst the cereals, the wheat of Derbend is celebrated 
on account of its large ears and fruitfulness. Barley, oats, and 
rye, occur also, as well as tobacco, and different kinds of vege- 
tables. The inhabitants of Northern Caucasia sow wheat, bar- 
ley, rye, and maize. 

With regard to Fauna, the horses are especially noted for 
their speed and endurance. Mountain bulls, mules, and asses 
are used in harness and as beasts of burthen. The sheep be- 
long chiefly to the Calmuck race, with fat, savoury tails. Among 
the wild animals we must include bears, wolves, jackals, pan- 
thers, wild boars, foxes, stags, antelopes, wild bulls, wild cats, 
&c. Pheasants occur in great plenty ; there are also eagles, 
hawks, wild doves, ducks, &c. 



CHAPTER VII. 

POLITICAL GEOGRAPHY AND STATISTICS. 

The Russian Government with its usual cool impudence has 
appropriated the whole Caucasian Isthmus, and classified it into 
a certain number of governments, though Russian columns can- 
not appear among the higher mountains without being anni- 
hilated. 

The Russian organization of the Isthmus falls under the 
following heads. The Caucasian provinces are reckoned to con- 
tain 120,000 square miles and 2,500,000 inhabitants, though 
it is idle for the Muscovites to attempt anything approaching a 
correct estimate of the population, as the mountaineers laugh 
at all ideas of a census, and many tribes are entirely unknown. 

1st. Province. Caucasia, with 38,460 square miles and 
14Y,000 inhabitants, including 30,000 Cossacks. This estimate 
cannot include any of the free mountain clans, and the Russian 
lists never reckon women under the head of souls. The inde- 
pendent tribes of the Western Caucasus are supposed to reckon 
1,000,000 people. This province has twenty-two fortresses, 
and extends from the Black Sea, along the Kouban, Kuma, and 
Terek to the Caspian. It contains five districts, and its capital 
is Stavropol, with a fortress. Georgiefsk is a fortress on the 
Podkuma, and the residence of the Commander-in-Chief. Kislar 
is a frontier fortress at the mouth of the Terek. Alexandrofsk 
is built on the Upper Kuma. Ekaterinograd is a fortress on 
the Malka ; Mosdok a fortress on the Terek and the high road 
to Georgia ; Schedrinsk, a fortress on the Terek, and Vladikau- 



58 POLITICAL GEOGRAPHY AND STATISTICS. 

kas (i. e. the ruler of the Caucasus) is another important strong- 
hold on the Terek, and the key to the mountain pass to Geor- 
gia over the mountain of the Cross, or Krestowaja Gora. 

2. The Province of Grusia or Georgia, embraces 16,640 
square miles and 400,000 inhabitants, divided into six circles, 
its capital being Tiflis on the Kur, which is a navigable river. 

Gori on the Kur is a mountain fortress, and Telawi the 
capital of the circle ofKacheti, consists of three fortresses. 

3. Daghestan, the home of Schamyl, occupying most of 
the Eastern Caucasus, is almost one unbroken mountain, and 
almost entirely independent of Russia. It embraces 86,800 
square miles and 180,000 inhabitants, and forms the eastern 
part of the Caucasus on the Caspian. It comprises the follow- 
ing districts : a, The territory of the Schamgal (ruler) of Tarku 
on the Caspian Sea. b, The territory of the Ussmei (governor) 
of Ehaitak, who did homage to Russia in 1799, with five dis- 
tricts, c, Thabasseran, a small mountainous province, with a 
capital of the same name, d, The territory of Derbent, in 
Russian occupation since 1806, with the capital of Derbent on 
the eastern promontory of a mountain, e, The territory of 
Ckneah, inhabited by two small tribes. /, The Khan at of 
Ckuba with a walled town of the same name on the Deli, g, A 
little Lesghian territory with 8000 inhabitants with princes, and 
under the rule of elders. Such is the Russian analysis of Dagh- 
estan, omitting all mention of the numerous tribes and districts 
peopled by independent tribes whose numbers and names can- 
not be ascertained. 

4. The province of Imeritia embraces 16,640 square miles, 
and 280,000 inhabitants, comprising the circles of Imeritia, 
Mingrelia, Ghuria, and Avchasia (the south-west slope of the 
Caucasus mostly independent). 

5. The province of Schirwan, with 8900 square miles, and 
133,000 inhabitants, embraces, a, The Khanat of Baku, with a 
walled city of the same name on the Caspian, and the best 
harbour on the coast ; b, the Khanat of Schirwan, a steppe coun- 



POLITICAL GEOGRAPHY AND STATISTICS. 59 

try, with the main river Kur flowing through, it ; c, the Khanat 
of Shakhi, with 32,000 Turcoman ; d, the town Dschar, peopled 
by 10,000 wild robbers, emulating, we suppose, the example of 
their masters the Muscovites ; e, the Khanat of Schuschi, in 
which the finest Persian horses are bred ; /, the Khanat of Talis- 
chin, with the Russian fort of Zeukeran and a roadstead in the 
Caspian* Sea. 

6. The province of Armenia, containing 7240 square miles, 
and 150,000 inhabitants, was, unhappily for its population, the 
victim of Russian aggression in 1828, when Persia ceded it 
to Muscovy at the peace of Toorkmantschai. Its capital is 
Erivan, with a castle. 

7. The Russian authorities find it convenient to cloak their 
failures in the Caucasus under the appellation of a protected 
province, called Circassia, including under this name all the 
tribes and territories that resist their authority. It would be 
out of place here to dwell on the blessings of Russian protection, 
and the correctness with which the term is applied to a region 
and people who are exterminated if they seek to preserve their 
faith and fatherland from the pollution and slavery of Muscovite 
supremacy. The protected province of Circassia is described as 
containing 30,700 square miles and 500,000 inhabitants, which 
is only correct if it applies to the male population of the West- 
ern Caucasus. It is divided into a, the Terek road, which is in 
the hands of Russia, containing the stanitzas-and forts Elizabeth- 
skoi, Constantinowskoi, Dariel, Lars, Kobi, Kasbek, and Kas- 
chaur ; 6, the Kabardan districts, bisected by the Terek, con- 
taining 48,000 families ; c, the territory of the nomadic Kouban 
Nogays ; d, Little Abchasia between the Kuban and Terek, 
peopled by independent Abchasians, amounting to 12,000 
families ; e, Suanetia, the territory of the Suani, a handsome in- 
dependent tribe in the Higher Caucasus ; /, the territory of 
Tschegem in the Western Caucasus ; g, Ironistan at the source 
of the Terek ; ^, the territory of the Midzhegs, or Kistia. The 
Kisti are partly under Russian sway, but principally indepen- 



60 POLITICAL GEOGRAPHY AND STATISTICS. 

dent. They reckon 10,000 families. This nation is subdivided 
into the tribes of the Ingusches, near Kabarda, the Kara Kulaks, 
the Tschetsches, and the Pharasmans ; i, the territory of the 
Kumucks, a Tartar tribe between the Akssai and the Caspian 
Sea ; k, the territory of the Lesghis or Lesghistan, in the highest 
part of the mountains. They amount to about 100,000 men, 
an estimate that is probably far too low, without including the 
women and children. They are subdivided into a great number 
of tribes, including the Avars with their capital Kabuda, a re- 
markable race, noted for their skill in manufacturing weapons. 

Such is the outline of the Russian survey of the Caucasus. 

We shall enter into a rather minuter account of the chief 
towns and forts, in order to confer additional utility on the pre- 
sent volume. The capital of Georgia is Tiflis, which is reported 
to have been built in a. d. 455. The old town was built on the 
right bank of the Kur, and destroyed by the Persians : the 
new town on the left bank was built by the Russians. Tiflis 
contains 30,000^inhabitants; its streets are not so handsome as 
its squares, but it is represented as emulating Prague in situa- 
tion and Cairo in bustle. It contains thirteen churches, but the 
Georgian and Armenian cupolas are cylindrical and not round 
like the Russian. 

The palace of the Governor General in the New Town is a 
handsome building, and its gardens are open to the public on 
Sundays. The theatre is now completed, a botanical garden 
has been formed, but is at present in its infancy, and the bazaar, 
which is the resort and lounge of a great variety of races, offers 
much interest. It is here that Europe and Asia shake hands, 
and you meet Armenians, Georgians, Circassians, Russians, 
Jews, &c. in their peculiar costume. The mechanics work in 
the streets. 

The Georgian women are noted for beauty, and display 
their charms without a veil. They look better, however, at a 
distance than near, on account of the cosmetic they use. 

On the coast of the Black Sea the most important Russian 



POLITICAL GEOGRAPHY AND STATISTICS. 61 

forts are Eedut-Kaleh, Sukhum-Kaleh, and Anapa. • Redut- 
Kaleh has a bad harbour which was opened in 1827. The 
Russian government pays an annual tribute of 2300 silver 
roubles to the Mingrelian princes, for the privilege of trading 
here. Sukhum-Kaleh, situated on the Abchasian territory, is 
a better harbour. It was conquered in 1810 by the Russians, 
and ought to have been given up to Turkey in 1812, but was 
retained ever since by the Muscovities. 

Anapa was built by the Turks in 1784; it was conquered 
in 1791 by the Russians, and again in 1807, 1809, and 1828, 
since when it has remained in their hands, owing to the disas- 
trous peace of Adrianople and the misapprehensions of British 
diplomacy. 

On the north-east of the Caucasus the principal strongholds 
are: Stavropol, the capital of Transcaucasia, founded in 1777, 
and raised to the rank of a town in 1785. The situation is 
elevated and salubrious, and it protects or rather awes the 
territory between the Kouban and the Kumak. Two fairs are 
held there yearly, to which a considerable amount of goods is 
brought. Near the town is a prison, to which all the criminals 
of the province are consigned. Under Russian rule it can never 
be long empty. They are forced to labour here in heavy 
chains. 

Stavropol is situated on the river Atschile, and is surrounded 
by Calmucks. Nomadic Nojays, and Cossack Stanitzas. The 
hotel of the governor has a beautiful garden, and it is anticipated 
that the town will some day become an important place, if the 
English do not destroy it 

Baku is an industrious town on the Caspian, with 800 hou- 
ses and 4060 inhabitants, and has a good harbour and fortress 
built by Peter the Great. This town carries on a considerable 
trade, and the wines of the vicinity resemble those of the South 
of France. Twelve versts from Baku, on the Ajischerm island, 
is the eternal fire of some descendants of the fire worshippers of 
Zoroaster. These Indians are timid and poor, and entertain 
4* 



62 POLITICAL GEOGRAPHY AND STATISTICS, 

visitors by explosions produced by the compression of atmos- 
pheric air and bringing it in contact with their fire, which is of 
whitish yellow colour, and seems allied to naphtha. 

Derbend contains 1800 houses and 26,000 inhabitants. Its 
climate is deadly to the Russian garrison. The inhabitants are 
mostly Tartars, and the appearance of the town is picturesque. 
It is built along a small isthmus and up the side of a mountain. 
It is surrounded by a walk and has a citadel. 

"With regard to the numerous forts, stanitzas, etc., surround- 
ing the mountains, they consist of low earth walls and a shallow 
ditch, and could not stand a coup de main of European antago- 
nists provided with heavy artillery and armed with bayonets. 
In short, a large European force in Circassia opposed to Eussia, 
and assisted by the Circassians, would immediately capture most 
of the Muscovite strongholds and their garrisons, and a fleet on 
the east coast of the Black Sea would starve the coast into sur- 
render.* Longworth rates the population of independent Cir- 
cassia at 1,000,000, giving 150,000 adult males capable of 
bearing arms, all speaking the same language. This calcula- 
tion does not include the Eastern Caucasus and Schamyl's force, 
or the neutral and subdued but disaffected tribes. 

Most authors have agreed that the Russian lists of popula- 
tion are valueless, save in connection with the subjugated tribes. 
The Circassians themselves laugh at the idea of men's being 
numbered like cattle, but then these free mountaineers have not 
yet been broken into the blessings of church rates, tithes, and 
national debts. Many tribes, as has been said elsewhere, are 
scarcely known even by name. Some time since the number 

* Dr. Carl Koch (p. 304, v. i.) informs us that the bay of Gelent- 
schik forms the finest inlet on the whole east coast of the Black Sea. 
It is about one league in breadth and three-fourths in depth. The Rus- 
sians captured a hamlet there in 1831, after a desperate resistance, and 
now they have a strong fort with 5000 men garrisoned in the bay. 
Next to Gelentschick the finest bay is that of Pchad, which from an- 
cient times has been an emporium for trade. 



POLITICAL GEOGRAPHY AND STATISTICS. 63 

of able-bodied combatants in the Western Caucasus was reck 
oned at 709,000 men, but some authors would now reduce it to 
70,000. The best authorities are, however, agreed in maintain- 
ing that the Circassians in the Western Caucasus could send 
forth 200,000 men. It appears probable to the author of these 
pages, on comparing the most authentic estimates, that the pop- 
ulation of the whole isthmus, including the subjugated, neutral, 
and independent tribes amounts to more than three millions. 
Consequently it would not be an exaggeration to attribute an 
active military force of 300,000 to 400,000 men to the whole 
Caucasus, of whom at least half could be mobilized, and trans- 
ferred from the mountains to the most exposed points of the 
Russian territory. 

In connection with the latter point, we shall take advantage 
of the present opportunity to offer a few remarks on other sub- 
ject nations of Russia, bordering on the Caucasus. Though the 
Cossacks are justly regarded as one of the most efficient instru- 
ments of Russian aggression, it is certain that their national 
spirit is not yet broken, that they often regret the privileges and 
immunities of which they have been lately deprived, and that, 
like the Malo Russians generally, they submit in many cases, 
because resistance is hopeless. The author has attentively read 
almost every work treating on the Cossacks and Malo Russians, 
and feels convinced that the elements of disaffection exist amongst 
these people as well as the Poles. 

Nor should we forget the Tartars of Kasan and of the Cri- 
mea. These people, having all escape cut off from them, and 
living chiefly in plains, were forced to submit to a hateful yoke. 
But they are Mahometans ; they hate the thraldom in which 
they are kept, especially the conscription, and they would hail 
with rapture a union with the Turks, and the arrival of a Cir- 
cassian army to liberate them. They would also smooth the 
way for the march of an Anglo-French army headed by a large 
force of Circassian cavalry to Moscow. 



CHAPTER VIII. 



It has been remarked in a previous chapter that every bel- 
ligerent power has its weak point, and it has been our humble 
endeavour to point out that of Russia. But the satisfaction we 
experience on detecting the vulnerable nature of our antagonist 
must not blind us to the painful circumstance that England also 
has its weak point, and that this debility paralyzes all the be- 
nefit we might reap from the defects of our opponent. It is 
evident, in short, that if the weakness of Russia is the strength 
of England, the weakness of England is the strength of Russia, 
and we cannot too strongly impress upon the reader's mind the 
conviction, that England is very weak in a certain point. 

It is not improbable that this statement may surprise many 
persons. It will be naturally asked what grounds exist for sup- 
posing that England has any very weak points. With bound- 
less resources at home, flourishing manufactures, an immense 
commerce, the empire of the seas, splendid colonies, inexhausti- 
ble mines, a glorious constitution, a popular sovereign, and a 
loyal people, remarkable for valour in the field and skill on the 
ocean, where can our weak point be ? I answer it exists, and 
it is precisely where it might be least expected. England's 
weak point is its Ministry. Independently of the organization 
of the Ministry which is very defective, especially in what re- 
lates to the management of the war department, where all au- 
thority should be centred in one hand instead of divided among 
a dozen, our public offices are filled with men who are guided 



England's weakness Russia's strength. 65 

by what they call expediency rather than by duty, who love 
place and power more than their country, whom history de- 
clares to have been the passive spectators of Russian aggression 
in the past, and who are apparently influenced by Russian flat- 
tery and imperial patronage now. In the words of an eminent 
and far-sighted patriot, we have three Foreign Secretaries in- 
stead of one, emulating each other in subserviency to the Czar's 
views, by trusting in lying parchments, by delaying our arma- 
ments till it is too late, and by not taking advantage of the 
weak point of our antagonist. Thus the weakness of England 
is the safety of Russia. Little avail the strength of our arms, 
our wooden walls, our blue jackets, our millions, if the head of 
the nation is empty and its heart hollow. We may have the 
finest army and fleet in the world, but the one is useless and 
the other powerless, if palsy or insanity holds the helm of the 
state. Nay, more, these forces and resources may become the 
ruin of England and the curse of Europe, if they are misdirected 
and misapplied. A navy detained at Beicos Bay for months 
for want of coals is convenient as an instrument for oppressing 
Turkey ; and an army sent out to defend Turkey, but left to 
garrison Constantinople instead of marching to meet the foe, is 
an efficient instrument aiding Russia in enslaving Turkey, the 
continent, and ultimately England. 

At the risk of repeating what has been previously said, we 
shall place an old argument in a new light, to prove that we 
have a very weak point at home. In chess and in hygiene, as 
well as in strategy, one of the most capital moves is that which 
defeats the onslaught of your enemy by a powerful diversion. 
If your king is menaced with a close attack, break through the 
weakest part of your antagonist's board, and threaten his king or 
queen. If you have a severe disease to attack, relieve it by an 
issue or an attack elsewhere. If you have an enemy to defeat, 
attack him in flank and rear, if you can, i. e., where he is weak- 
est, and fall on the base of his operations. 

Russia is a camp; all her southern frontiers are an extended 



66 England's weakness 

line of operations, — she invades you on the left wing in Bulga- 
ria, send an overwhelming force to attack her right flank and 
rear in Circassia, and through the Crimea fall on the base of 
her operations in Turkey. Her army will be forced to surren- 
der this summer. But to do this you must not spare men or 
money ; you must supply Schamyl with unlimited resources, 
and you will do neither the one nor the other, because your 
Ministers wish to spare Russia. Do you wonder at my telling 
you that you have a weak point, or rather do you not perceive 
at length that you are in danger, and Russia is safe, because 
your Ministers are her assistants.* 

It may be objected by some readers that the ministry have 
already formed the plan of sending an auxiliary force to Cir- 
cassia. I answer, — 1st, that I do not believe it; 2d, that a 
small force such as would be sent, would do no good ; 3d, that 
it will be sent too late, if sent at all. 

To paralyze Russia from the Caucasus, we must send an 
army there. Seventy or a hundred thousand Anglo-French 
would be well employed on that side. Georgia is a very pro- 
ductive country, and the fleets could bring them supplies. The 
Crimea also, and the shores of the Azof Sea are especially rich ; 
the latter being a granary, whereas the Danubian Principalities" 
are drained and exhausted by their loving protectors, the Rus- 
sians. Thus, even in a pecuniary and interested light, it would 
be positively advantageous to us. But if we regard the plan 
in connection with the speedy termination it must put to the 
war, then it becomes positively criminal to defer the blessings 
of peace, to prolong the miseries and uncertainties of war, and 
to saddle us with additional taxes, when all this might be pre- 
vented in the way we have specified. 

It is but one step from the sublime to the ridiculous. Leav- 
ing Downing Street, we pass to the newspaper office. The 
connection is obvious. There is another weak point of England 

* Turkey, the sick man, Russia, the physician — Aberdeen and 
Palmerston, the assistant-surgeons. 



RUSSIANS STRENGTH. 67 

and stronghold of Russia. So long as one paper monopolises 
the opinion of the monied classes, so long will England be in 
danger and Russia safe. The cause of this is obvious. The 
governing principle of a leading organ as well as of Downing 
Street, is expediency, not principle. The strength of Russia is 
bribery, corruption, intimidation, and influence. An office and 
a paper governed by expediency and not by principle, is always 
exposed to become the prey and the tool of such a power. We 
know that Muscovy is not very scrupulous about the means she 
employs, and snuff-boxes and diamond rings find their ways 
into strange pockets. 

Any one patriotic and interested enough to have studied the 
Times, Mr. Urquhart, and Sir Hamilton Seymour's despatches, 
together with the disclosures of Mr. Layard and Lord Derby, 
must be convinced of the danger this country encounters in en- 
trusting its interests and its guidance to partizans of absolutism 
and advocates of expediency. Closely examined, this whole 
question resolves itself into the following formulae : — 

The strength of a nation is the moral rectitude allied with 
the sagacity of its officers and public organs ; its weakness is 
the converse of these qualities. Moreover, let it be remembered, 
that where there is high moral rectitude, there is intuitively a 
high degree of sagacity and discrimination, which instantane- 
ously detects the insidious nature of all hollow pretences and 
treacherous advances. 

The author of these pages is not the first, nor will he be the 
last of those who call public attention to the danger and dis- 
honour to which this country is exposed, by suffering the mono- 
poly of public opinion by an unprincipled organ. 

In the course of the Hungarian insurrection, circumstances 
transpired that would have consigned any paper to disgrace 
and execration, were it not for the unfortunate circumstance 
that money can effect more than principle in this venal country 
and age. 

The disclosures of Mr. Pridham in his Kossuth and Magyar 



68 England's weakness 

Land, have proclaimed the fact that the leading organ of the 
British press is utterly unprincipled, and that it rejects no means 
provided that it attain its ends. 

With regard to the Ministry, enough has been said in and 
out of the House of Commons to show that a heavy blame at- 
taches to them in the present contest. 1. If they had possessed 
the rectitude and sagacity to which we have alluded, the earlier 
letters of Sir Hamilton Seymour would have alarmed them and 
roused their resistance. 2. They would have counselled the 
Porte to resist the passage of the Pruth, and promised to -sup- 
port them. Hence, this year Russia, instead of holding and 
feeding on the Danubian Provinces, would have been forced to 
fight for their possession, and most of the troops would have 
starved en route in the Steppes. 3. Instead of keeping a large 
force of the allied fleets in the Bospborus to overawe Constan- 
, tinople, and preventing the mass of the Turkish fleet from going 
into the Black Sea, which led to the fearful tragedy of Si nope, 
all the fleets would have entered it at once, protected the coast 
of Turkey and saved the honour of the allies. 

Lastly, the delay in the transmission of troops to the East, 
the unaccountable want of coals at Beicos Bay for two months, 
and the neglect of sending an overwhelming force at once to 
Circassia, are clear evidences that the men at the head of her 
power have not their heart in the cause. 

If the reader require any further evidence of the partiality 
of our Premier for Nicholas I. let him refer to the memorandum 
of 1844, when these venerable doctors coolly discussed the ap- 
proaching death of the sick man, and pledged the honour of 
gentlemen concerning his dissection. 

Hence, if the present war is to be carried on creditably to 
this country, and advantageously for the liberties of the world, 
the obvious inference is that we must appoint men to direct 
our affairs who are determined to humble Russia, and to use 
every means in their power to take advantage of her weakness 
which is our strength, and not commit our interests and the 



Russia's strength. 69 

liberties of the world to those who, being influenced by partia- 
lity for the cause of despotism, are become our weakness and 
the strength of Russia. Lastly, in the Eastern Caucasus, our 
duty and interest require us to form an alliance, offensive and 
defensive, with Schamyl, the great Sultan and Prophet of Da- 
ghestan, in the Western Caucasus ; we should also contract 
engagements with Sefir Bey, the interesting captain of Adria- 
nople, now at length liberated by the Porte and adored by his 
countrymen. With such allies victory is sure to be ours, and 
rapidly ; we fall on the Russian rear, and the force in the Danu- 
bian provinces surrenders at discretion. In short, we can finish 
the war and save otfr blood and treasure if we choose. To 
hesitate is a crime, and savours of high treason. 



CHAPTER IX. 



DIPLOMACY. 



The war in the Caucasus is not only interesting from the hero- 
ism of its gallant tribes in the defence of their faith and freedom, 
it is also very significative as an expression of the invariable 
course pursued by Russia in her encroachments. Muscovy has 
made it a constant practice to grant her protection to one country 
in order to make war upon another ; or, to use the expressions 
of her advocates, she is forced by the pressure of circumstances 
and the entreaties of suffering neighbours to cast her loving 
arms around them, and fold them one after another in her tender 
embrace. 

It may be objected that England does the same thing in 
India, and France in Algeria. To this we reply, that England's 
sway secures the blessings of civil and religious liberty to the 
countries which it is obliged to occupy in self-defence, and that 
the admirable Code Napoleon is extended to the territories that 
come under French rule; but when Russia takes the nations 
under its rods and synod, we turn away* shuddering from the 
result, and involuntarily exclaim, Woe to those who are con- 
demned to be the pupils of such a teacher ! 

Peter the Great, in the latter years of his life, directed his 
whole attention to obtaining possession of India, an idea which 
he was unfortunately prevented from carrying out by his un- 
timely death, but which he bequeathed as a solemn and sacred 
legacy to his successors. In the year 1717, he had sent an 
army to Khiva, under the command of Prince Bekowitsch 



DIPLOMACY. 11 

Tscherkasky,.in order to secure the possession of this important 
stronghold. The expedition failed ; but Peter never lost sight 
of this prevailing idea, and directed his attention to the Caspian 
Sea, where Russia could find an emporium and issue through 
her numerous canals and tributaries, the master stream of the 
Volga being the main artery. \ And ever since his reign it has 
been the chief object of Russian ambition to strike a deathblow 
at British power and influence in the East, by restoring the 
ancient land traffic to India through Bokhara and Herat, by 
bringing the Shah of Persia under Russian protection, by steal- 
ing Armenia from Turkey, by excluding foreign navies from 
the Black Sea, by incessant attempts at dismembering Turkey, 
seizing the Dardanelles, and eventually commanding the over- 
land route to India i by the tremendous and perpetual efforts 
she makes to reduce the Caucasian tribes, in short, by every 
expedient presented by arms and diplomacy. The sequel of 
this chapter will satisfactorily establish that she has effected 
much more by diplomacy than by arms; for here again lies her 
strength and our weakness. 

It was Russian diplomacy which, beginning by wearing the 
robes of the saint, and employing the language of humanity 
and liberty, ended by enslaving Poland. It was Russian dip- 
lomacy which, by gaining the Swedish commanders of the for- 
tresses of Finland, prepared the annexation of that province and 
the present dependence of Sweden. It was Russian diplomacy 
that perverted the language of treaties, and impudently pro- 
claimed the annexation of the Crimea. It was Russian diplo- 
macy which, by a barefaced falsehood, established the pretended 
right of Russia over Circassia, on the unjust possession of the 
Crimea and on the Treaty of Adrianople which honest Turkey 
was deceived into signing by its wily antagonist, who extorted 
concessions that the Sultan was not entitled to make. It was 
British diplomacy that suffered all this without remonstrance or 
resistance, preparing the way for Russian encroachment and 
general oppression. These are the circumstances that will hand 



72 DIPLOMACY. 

down the name of Palmerston and some other ornaments of the 
Treasury bench to the execration or admiration of posterity. 
Nothing but blindness or guilt can account for the behaviour of 
British statesmen, especially in connection with the Treaties of 
Adrianople, Unkiar-Skelessi, and the independence of Circassia. 
The war in the Caucasus is not only expressive of the character 
of Russian aggression, it also discloses again the weakness of 
England on which the fabric of Russian greatness is raised. 
Men of rank and university education, presumed to be versed in 
history, and to whose hands was committed the honour and 
safety of these realms, could not overlook the fact that the pos- 
session of the'Blaek Sea and the conquest of Circassia pave the 
way for that of India, j A Palmerston and an Aberdeen can 
no longer hope to escape the just condemnation to which their 
misapprehensions have exposed them ; for their dereliction of 
public duty can only be attributed to one of these motives, 1st, 
imbecility ; 2d, pusillanimity ; 3d, influence. Heaven knows 
that we should be loath to charge the latter accusation on any 
Englishman, much more on any English nobleman ; it must be 
left to God and their conscience. But it is evident that though 
Lord Aberdeen may be excused on the ground of imbecility, 
the charge cannot be appropriate to Palmerston, who must seek 
refuge under the shelter of pusillanimity, hitherto happily a 
somewhat unusual excuse in the case of British statesmen.* 

As the circumstances connected with the annexation of the 
Crimea and the dereliction of duty in British statesmen, in 

* It is doubly important to ascertain exactly the claims of Russia 
on Circassia, as the chief excuse put forth for the massacre of Sinope 
by the Russian government and British ministers was, that the Turkish 
ships destroyed there were conveying troops and arms to Circassia, an 
integral portion of the Russian territory. The same argument was 
used subsequently to justify the non-interference of the allied fleets at 
Beikos Bay. The statement is false, as the flotilla was bound to Ba- 
toum in Turkey ; but if true, the excuse would be vain, as Circassia is 
still and always has been an independent country. Here again, there- 
fore, the ministry are convicted of wilful blindness in favour of Russia. 



DIPLOMACY. , *73 

abandoning Circassia, are not generally known, and are very- 
instructive, in showing the strength of Russia and the weakness 
of England, we shall proceed to give a compendious sketch of 
these damning events. 

Russia's pretensions to the territory on the East coast of 
the Black Sea, are based on the celebrated Treaty of Adrianople 
(1829), in which the Sultan resigned to Russia all the country 
situated between the Black Sea and the Kouban. 

Now it can be established, in the most conclusive manner, 
that the Circassians were never even nominally under Turkish 
rule, nd that the Sultan had not the shadow of a right to dis- 
pose of their territory, according to his good pleasure, or rather 
that of Russia. Several of the Circassian tribes, though not 
near all, are Mahometans, at least nominally, including the coast 
tribes of the Shapsooks, Ubyches, Dshigeths, &c. These Ma- 
hometan tribes never stood in any other relation, however, to the 
Sultan, than that of all Roman Catholics to the Pope, — they 
regarded and respected him as the head of their Church, but 
were no more his subjects than the Catholics of Ireland are 
those of the Pope. 

After the glorious capture of the Vixen, British merchant- 
man, in 1838, by Russian cruisers, the question of the Sultan's 
authority over the Circassians was warmly disputed in parlia- 
ment ; and Mr. Bell, the owner, has demonstrated, in his vindi- 
cation, that these mountaineers were at no time de jure or de 
facto under Turkish sway, and that therefore the Russian 
claims* on their territory were null and void. 

All men, at least in Western Europe, are now tolerably alive 
to the fact, that treaties are seldom worth the paper on which 
they are written, since the strongest powers never feel any scru- 
ples of conscience in breaking their most sacred conventions 
with weaker ones, provided -they can do so with impunity ; the 
example of Cracow presents a recent though far from a solitary 
case in point. 

* See the Appendix to Bell's Residence, <fec. 



74 DIPLOMACY. 

It is our present object to show that Russia has not the 
slightest right to Circassia, because its inhabitants' were never 
under the Sultan's sway, though Muscovy obtained the com- 
pulsory cession of that territory from the Sultan (on paper). 

To establish this* proof, we are obliged to revert to older 
treaties than that of Adrianople, — to treaties on which was 
based all subsequent agreements between Russia and the Sub- 
lime Porte. Our space will prevent us from dwelling at any 
length on the matter ; and the curious reader is referred for 
farther details to the Recueil de Traites de Martens. 

After an obstinate and sanguinary war, a treaty was con- 
cluded between Russia and Turkey, in 1*774, called that of 
Kutschuk-Kainardji, whereof the third • article reads as fol- 
lows: 

" All Tartar populations, including those of the Crimea, of Buginc, 
of the Kouban,* of Yetissan, of Giarabinluc, of Sedicul, without any 
exception, are recognized by both empires mutually as free nations, 
entirely independent of any foreign power (comme nations libres, 
entiirement independantes de toute puissance etrangere,) as nations 
placed under the immediate control of their own King, belonging to 
the family of Genghis Khan, who is elected and confirmed by the unani- 
mous consent of the Tartar nations, and is bound to govern them ac- 
cording to traditional manners and customs, without being in any 
degree answerable to any foreign power (sans jamais rendre aucun 
compte & aucune puissance etrangere ; ) in consequence whereof the 
Ottoman Porte will not in any way interfere either with the choice or 
instalment of the above-named Khan, or in his household, political, 
civil, and home regulations; it will, on the contrary, consider and ac- 
knowledge the Tartar nation in question in its civil and political rela- 
tions, as placed in the same position with all other powers which govern 
themselves and depend upon God (qui se gouvernent elles-memes et ne 
dependent que de Dieu.) Religious ceremonies, when identical with 
those of the Moslem, which regard his Highness the Sultan as the su- 
preme caliph of Mahometanism, will be performed in accordance 
with the exigencies of their religion, without, however, interfering in 
any degree with their political and civil freedom." 

* This term includes the Circassians. 



DIPLOiMACY. 70 

All the sequel only goes to increase and confirm the pre- 
ceding passage, and the same article ends thus : 

"The Sublime Porte hinds itself and promises solemnly, according 
to the example of Russia, not to maintain any garrison or armed force 
in future, in the afore-named towns, fortresses, countries, or dwelling 
places, nor to introduce any governor or officer into the interior of these 
stages, under any appellation whatsoever, but to leave the Tartars in 
perfect freedom and independence as they will be left on the part of 
Russia," 

It is clearly established, by these passages, that Kussia and 
Turkey acknowledged the lands in question as henceforth and 
for ever free, and dependent on God alone. 

Yet if some doubts should still remain in the mind of the 
reader on the subject, the evidence of another convention, 
closely connected with that of Kutschuk-Kainardji, will remove 
all uncertainty. In the year 111 5 a so-called convention expli- 
cative, was drawn up between Russia and the Porte, whose 
origin so naturally resulted from the contents of that treaty, 
that it will be unnecessary to give farther particulars about 
its nature. In the introduction to this convention we read : — 

"Since the ratification of the permanent Treaty of Peace, con- 
cluded at Kutschuk-Kainardji, the 10th of July, 1774 (1188 of the 
Eegira), between Russia and the Sublime Porte, several perplexities 
and misunderstandings have arisen concerning the Tartars of the 
Crimea and other populations, like them, declared free, and who ac- 
knowledge God alone as their head. These misunderstandings have 
gone to such lengths that they have deprived the inhabitants of the 
countries in question of the fruits of peace, of rest, and security. 

" To obviate for the future such disturbing hindrances which might 
give occasion to ill blood and hostility between the two powers, 
and to put and end to them for ever, the plenipotentiaries of the two 
empires have amicably agreed to enter on a new negociation at Con- 
stantinople, with the simple object of explaining the principal uncer- 
tainties, and of interpreting without, in any degree, altering or circum- 
scribing the above-mentioned Treaty of Kainardji." 

The first article of this convention runs as follows :— 



76 DIPLOMACY. 

" The Treaty of permanent peace concluded at Kainardji is con- 
firmed in all its clauses by the present convention, and that without 
any exception, each passage being accepted in its literal meaning to 
such an extent as if the above-named Treaty were inserted word for 
word in the present convention, with the exception of those articles 
which are specially and minutely explained in the articles of the 
present convention." 

Article II. of the convention determines more accurately 
Article III. of the Treaty of Kainardji ; its verbal insertion 
would occupy too much space, wherefore we shall rest satis- 
fied with inserting its most striking passage : — 

" The Sublime Porte which has already resigned by the Treaty of 
Kainardji all temporal rights over the whole of the Tartar hordes, tribes, 
and races, binds itself anew by this convention, never under any pre- 
tence whatever to lay claim to such a right, but, on the contrary, to con- 
sider and recognize the above-named population as a free and indepen- 
dent nation, conformably with the third article of the afore-mentioned 
Treaty." 

It would be superfluous to offer any commentary on so clear 
and unmistakeable a text ; but we shall shortly see that the 
Russians, who, notwithstanding the pliant spirit of their diplo- 
macy, were unable to untie the knot, did not scruple to cut it. 

The Turks observed their conventions with a faithfulness and 
honesty that is very creditable to them, when compared with 
the equivocating Muscovites, yet their probity, instead of being 
rewarded, subsequently encountered the bitterest requital ; his- 
tory unhappily presenting numberless cases, in which rectitude 
in weak and defenceless powers is treated as folly by their 
stronger neighbours. 

Scarcely had four years elapsed when the Empress Cathe- 
rine, violating the treaty of Kainardji in the most scandalous 
manner, stimulated to the act by her unprincipled and ambi- 
tious favourite, Potemkin, sent an array into the Crimea, to 
take possession of that fertile territory by fraud or violence. 
We cannot resist the inducement of introducing the following 



DIPLOMACY. V7 

graphic account of that piece of treachery, from a biography 
of Potemkin : — " Sahin-Giuerai, the last Khan of the Crimea, 
when he was reduced to the greatest distress by the intrigues of 
the agents of Potemkin, and the latter offered him their help . 
and support, was deserted by his high dignitaries, who looked 
upon him as a traitor, holding with their arch-foes, the Rus- 
sians. They obliged him to fly for safety to the Muscovites. 
It is easy to imagine the haughtiness with which this 'duped 
Khan was regarded by a man like Potemkin, and what terms 
he imposed upon him. All remonstrances were in vain. The 
Khan could only save himself by signing, in his own name and 
that of his descendants, his abdication of the rule over the 
Crimea to Russia, for a yearly pension of 100,000 roubles. 
Scarcely had this apparently voluntary but really compulsory 
abdication taken place, when Potemkin took possession of the 
Crimea, in the name of the Empress. He restored Greek names 
not only to the peninsula, but also to all the towns and ports 
that it contains, with a view of enticing the Greeks dwelling in 
Turkey to remove, with their goods and property, to the cities 
of their ancestors. He was not satisfied with uniting the Cri- 
mea to Russia, but he also laid claim to the neighbouring coun- 
tries, under the pretext that they belonged formerly to the Cri- 
mea, and had been robbed partly by the Turks and partly by 
others? &c. 

Amongst the countries to which Potemkin laid claim, under 
the false pretence that they had formerly been dependent on the 
Crimea, occurs the territory of the Circassians, situated between 
the Kouban and the Black Sea, and it is really a matter of 
wonder that this people has up to the present day victoriously 
resisted all the bayonets, intrigues, and bribery of its hereditary 
foes, and preserved its freedom, whilst surrounding nations, 
vastly more numerous, worn out by the strife, have yielded to 
the double eagle. 

By dethroning Sahin-Giuerai, the Khan.of the Crimea, 
and by appropriating his territory, whose freedom ancj* inde- 
5 



78 DIPLOMACY. 

pendence had been solemnly guaranteed by the Empress, and 
promised to be respected throughout futurity, she literally broke 
all the conventions that she had agreed upon with Turkey, 
some of whose passages, as we have seen, were so clearly and 
intelligibly worded, that it appeared impossible to twist them 
and quibble about them. 

The reader, who is well aware, from passing evenJs, that 
even the most obvious violations cf powerful rulers, are founded 
on an appearance of justice, will be curious to learn how Cathe- 
rine, set to work to bring her actions into harmony with her 
words. It will be an instructive instance of the cleverness of 
Russian »j> rnacy, which constitutes her strength and our 
weakness. 

She published a manifesto, April 8th, 1781, in which she 
says, to that the chief object of the Treat}' of Kainardji, and 
the convention explicative, resulting from it, was the preserva- 
tion of a durable peace between Russia and the Sublime Porte ; 
and that, by recognizing the freedom and independence of the 
Crimea, it was anticipated that the occasion of frequent misun- 
derstanding and ill-blood between those Powers, and all con- 
tentions for the future would, be removed : that the Empress 
had, however, been deceived in her expectations, and had been 
reduced to have recourse to other expedients." * 4 Wherefore," 
(such is the conclusion of this remarkable manifesto, literally 
translated ;) " wherefore, inspired with the upright intention of 
confirming, maintaining, and preserving the last peace concluded 
with the Porte, whilst we endeavour to check the ill-blood per- 
petually occasioned by the affairs of the Crimea, our duty to 
ourselves, as well as our care for the safety of our dominions, 
makes it incumbent on us to take the firm resolution of put- 
ting an end for ever to the disturbances in the Crimea. To 
this end we unite with our empire the peninsula of the Crimea, 
the island of Taman, and all the territory situated between the 
Kouban and the Black Sea, as a just compensation for the 
losses and expenses which we have endured in maintaining the 
peace and prosperity of those countries." 



DIPLOMACY. 19 

On reading this wonderful manifesto, we ask the reader and 
the nation if it is not the duty of Ministers to adopt its lan- 
guage literally in the case of Russia, reversing the powers and 
proper names, and to occupy the Crimea and liberate Circassia, 
as securities for the future peace of our dominions, and an in- 
demnity for the expenses of this u provoked war? Yet you will 
neither obtain the one nor the other. 

The Crimean Tartars may have yielded in some measure too 
easily to the yoke of Muscovite tyranny, yet, deserted by Tur- 
key and Europe, they could offer no effectual resistance to their 
colossal neighbour, while the Circassians have enjoyed the pro- 
tection of the glorious bastions of the Caucasus — the home of 
freedom and the grave of slaves. 

Nor could a more dreadful fate be imagined than that which 
would consign those powerful and energetic mountaineers to the 
poisonous breath of Russian civilization. It would be difficult 
to find, in the present day, two nations who are so abruptly op- 
posed in their characteristic qualities as the servile Muscovites 
and the chivalrous highlanders of the Caucasus. Since the 
period of Peter the Great, whose iron hand gave them the first 
impulse to shake them out of the night of barbarism, the Rus- 
sians have been implicated in a painful and unnatural phase of 
transition, and form a chaos whose elements must be eliminated 
and purified before we can form a correct judgment as to its 
future or even present condition ; yet all impartial authorities 
agree in admitting that four vices — deception, lying, thievish- 
ness, and adultery — are more commonly met with in Russia than 
in any other countries of Europe. 

In contrast to these crimes, all Caucasian travellers testify that 
honour, the love of truth, faithfulness, and sobriety, are promi- 
nent features in the Circassians. Possibly it may appear to the 
reader that the sacrifice of these virtues, together with liberty, 
the first blessing of man, would be rather too high a price to 
pay for the privilege of the "tender sway of Muscovy." 

Truly it would be ridiculous, were it not terrible, that a 



80 DIPLOMACY. 

people like the Russians, who, since their first origin, have 
neither known equity nor justice, should think it their mission 
to dictate laws to other nations. 

"Caprice and thievishn ess," says Golovin (p. 113 of his 
JRussia), il are the foundations of the Russian government, 
which has never comprehended that you can rule without op- 
pression, and that gentleness establishes the happiness of a 
people and the security of a government on a surer basis than 
all cruelty, which is styled in Russia ' just severity,' in the same 
way that tyranny and authority are synonymous terms in that 
empire." 

"The Russian government is well aware,* that all the 
deeds of violence in which it indulges can only have been per- 
formed with impunity under the protection of the coarsest 
ignorance and moral corruption ; and it results from this, Jhat 
the mystery of its policy consists in the demoralization and 
brutifying of the people.'' 

Yet this country, whose rulers onljb feel at home like owls 
in the dark, whose policy acts as a clog to progress at all times 
and everywhere — this people which forms the night side of 
Europe, is represented to be destined by Providence to enlighten 
and civilize the surrounding nations. The only light we have 
hitherto obtained from its hyperborean atmosphere consists in 
the conservative tallow dips which only served to make dark- 
ness visible, and which are likely to be soon superseded by the 
more enlightening system of gas companies. 

A high-spirited German writer, surveying this question, 
remarks : " Woe to the nations condemned to be pupils of 
such a teacher ! Woe to all the countries where the double- 
headed eagle hath already built her nest ! Woe to that over 
whom its destructive wings are still destined to soar ! " 

Circumstances connected especially with the supreme saga- 
city of British diplomacy have unfortunately proved that words 

* Ibidem, p. 123. 



DIPLOMACY. 81 

alone, though words that burn and conveying thoughts that 
breathe, nay, the speech of angels could not check the ruin which, 
like a direful pestilence, threatens, aye, and even now smites, 
the tribes of the Caucasus ; yet it has been our purpose, drop- 
ping a timorous silence, to speak out boldly our convictions re- 
specting the causes of this oppression, and that which grinds or 
threatens the whole of Europe and the world. Passing events 
sufficiently prove that the danger is not confined to the East, 
the North, or South, but that it is equally imminent in the 
West ; and the experience of more than one generation has 
testified that the chief danger of England and of the world lies 
in the councils and decisions of the British Senate and Cabinet ! 

# A danger increases or diminishes in proportion to the at- 
tention bestowed upon it by the majority, and the greatest po- 
litical and ecclesiastical revolutions have arisen from small 
beginnings which have been neglected by mankind at large. 
It is particularly desirable that our grave and substantial neigh- 

% bours, the Germans, should bear this truth in mind, as they ap- 
pear utterly blind to facts, and complacently satisfied that all 
idea of ambitious aggrandisement on the part of Russia is an 
idle dream. We would especially remind them, as an evidence 
of their present and future security, that of all powers in modern 
history none is so revolutionary in its influence as Russia. The 
encouragement of insurrection in Greece and throughout Euro- 
pean Turkey, including Montenegro, is an instructive example of 
what Germany has to expect ; nor should the cabinets of Vien- 
na and Berlin forget that a similar firebrand may be and will 
be cast into their Sclavonic and other dependencies. The Holy 
Places were a small occasion for a European war, and Russia 
can always find Holy Places anywhere at the convenient season. 
Nor can a power be regarded as over-scrupulous which, whilst 
visiting the Circassians defending their liberties with fire, sword 
and violation, proceeds to stimulate the population of European 
Turkey to insurrection against their legitimate sovereign, the 
Sultan. 



82 DIPLOMACY. 

Reverting to the chief matter of this section or the principal 
cause of our failure and Russia's success, we shall offer a few 
more words on the glorious phases of British diplomacy. I That 
a heavy blame rests on the shoulders of several British states- 
men now in power, is inscribed in characters of blood on the 
page of recent history. 

1st. When the English and French fleets were sent out by 
the infatuation of our Cabinet, to fight the battle of Russia, 
and commit the greatest blunder in history, no declaration* of 
war took place before we destroyed the Turkish fleet at Nava- 
rino, an event that notoriously resulted in the peace of Adriano- 
ple, which, by placing Turkey under the protection of Russia, 
shutting up the Black Sea and abandoning the Circassians, has 
entailed upon us the present war. 2dly. In November, 1853, 
two fleets, British and French, were in the Bosphorus, when 
the massacre at Sinope took place, an event justly provoking 
the execration of England and of her noblest representative in 
the present Ministry. The admirals at Beicos Bay occasioned 
the massacre by keeping back the main force of the Turkish 
fleet instead of letting it escort the transports, and after the 
massacre the Russian fleet was allowed to retire safely to Sebas- 
topol, with its prizes, though there was abundant time to have 
cut it off. Here we shall be met by the excuse that there was 
no declaration of war. I reply, nor was there in the case of 
Navarino ; but in one case we had to deal with Turks, and in the 
other with Russians. Facts are said to speak sometimes, and if 
such facts do not speak of unpatriotic partiality, we confess our- 
selves unable to read history. Perhaps the objection may occur 
again, that the Turkish flotilla at Sinope was conveying troops 
to Circassia, a part of the Russian territory. We have at- 
tempted to demolish this argument already, by showing that 
Russia never had a shadow of a right to Circassia, and this 
brings us to the Treaty of Adrianople. 

British diplomacy never appeared in brighter colours than 
at that golden age. It is true that the Duke of Wellington on 
going out of office had left a protest against the Treaty, but his 



DIPLOMACY. 83 

opinion was of course worthless, as he had shown that he was no 
patriot. A British officer and author, who had travelled in 
Russia and is partial to that country, as an evidence of the su- 
periority of Russian over British diplomacy remarks, that, at Ad- 
rianople, at the time the Treaty was signed, our consul writing 
about the Russian army observes, I never saw a regiment of 
soldiers together before. The consequence was, he thought the 
8,000 able men that Diebttsch had with him, a very overwhelm- 
ing force, and the Porte was tutored by us and intimidated into 
signing the Treaty. \ 

It is evident from these and many other cases which might 
be multiplied to a volume, ncluding the nefarious abandon- 
ment of Poland and Cracow, whose integrity had been guaran- 
teed at the Treaty of Vienna, and which were deserted by Lords 
Aberdeen and Palmerston, it is evident, from the whole history 
of contemporaneous British diplomacy and foreign policy, that, 
to use the mildest expression, they have been a series of mon- 
ztrous and fatal blunders, and that the Foreign Office has been 
the instrument of deplorable infatuation. 

It is probable that history scarcely presents an instance of 
more ridiculous folly than all the achievements of British policy, 
military as well as diplomatic, that accompanied the insurrection 
of Greece. Truly it makes the lip curl with scorn, to think of 
a great and enlightened nation like England abetting the nefa- 
rious and insane rebellion of a rabble of scoundrels and a race 
of robbers, with a depraved and debauched priesthood, whilst 
our statesmen looked on in indifference or worse during the 
death-struggles of the gallant Magyars and Poles. Nor can we 
account for the partiality to the former and the indifference to 
the latter, save by remembering that in abetting the Greeks we 
were doing the work of Russia, whilst in assisting Hungary and 
Poland we should have resisted her. The result is as usual, 
that England pays, and pays dearly, for the infatuation of her 
Cabinet and the inefficiency of her diplomacy, which constitute 
the chief levers by which Russian ministers and agents are able 
to forward the work of Russian greatness aud encroachment. 



CHAPTER X. 



ILLUSTRATIONS. 



It has appeared to us that it might be entertaining to the 
reader, and serviceable to the cause of freedom and of truth, to 
present a few additional illustrations of the war in the Cauca- 
sus, — especially as it is important to substantiate what has been 
advanced relating to the heroism and superior military qualities 
of its tribes. 

u A Russian officer, who accompanied an expeditionary col- 
umn into the mountains in 1841, from Andrejew to the pass of 
Kubar, informs us, that he witnessed an engagement which gave 
a good specimen of the stuff that the mountaineers are made 
of. Six mounted Tschetschenzians had been surrounded by the 
Russian soldiers in a wood. They had rallied continually closer 
together, righting all the time, till at length one majestic tree 
formed their only protection in the rear. Meanwhile the Mus- 
covites pressed upon them from all sides ; and the patriots per- 
ceived that victory was impossible. Yet they would not accept 
any quarter. Suddenly they drew close together and strove to 
cut a way through the enemy who encompassed them, — but in 
vain. One alone broke through the circle, and was about to 
gallop away. The remaining five leapt from their horses and 
smote them dead, as is their wont when all chance of escape is 
gone ; their only object being now to kill as many Russians as 
possible before they fall themselves. At this moment they 
caught sight of their comrade, who was making off, and they 



ILLUSTRATIONS. 85 

called out to him. Instantly he wheeled his horse about, cut 
his way back to his friends, plunged his dagger like lightning 
into the chest of his horse, and fought by their side. They fell 
to a man. Such men are 4 the guardians of the Caucasus and 
of your Eastern Empire ! ' " (Urquhart.) 

Tarku (frequently, but incorrectly spelt Tarki) is the capital 
of a territory of the same name on the east coast # of the Cas- 
pian Sea, and is a considerable town, built in the form of terra- 
ces on the declivity of a high mountain. Its large flat-roofed 
houses, built of rough-hewn stones in the Asiatic fashion, follow 
the slope of the hill to its base, and present an appearance re- 
sembling that of colossal steps, hewn irregularly in the rock. 
The upper houses are partially shaded by gigantic fir trees and 
oaks, which produce a very picturesque effect among the irregu- 
larly-piled masses of stones. A luxurious vegetation decorates 
the steep flanks of the mountain, on whose summit General Jer- 
molow built a fort, named Burnaja, " the stormy," which com- 
mands the sea and land far and wide. The fort received 
this name on account of the frequent and protracted storms 
which rage on the summit, and often do much mischief. 

Kasi Mullah, the great Murid chief and predecessor of 
Schamyl, who fell at Himri, had long coveted the possession 
of this stronghold ; and Burnaja with Tarku became the great 
object of his ambition. He hoped subsequently to conquer 
Derbend and the principal points on the coast of the Caspian. 

The Murschid began his memorable expedition against Tar- 
ku, about the middle of May, 1831 Scarcely was he a day's 
march from the city when he had to fight a desperate battle in 
the defiles "of the Aoul Atlaba with the troops of Major-General 
von Taube, which had hurried up by forced marches. The 
Mu rids gained a brilliant victory, conquered the Aoul. and 
General von Taube was forced to fall bick beaten to theC<>ssaek 
line along the Terek. It can be easily conceived how this tri- 
umph raised the spirits of the troo; s of K isi Mullah who 
entered victorious into Tarku on the night of the 20th f \l • 
5^ 



86 ILLUSTRATIONS. 

And now there ensued some days and nights of continued 
murderous contests, of which few examples are recorded even 
in the bloody page of Caucasian history. We shall only pre- 
sent a few sketches of these terrible scenes. 

Burnaja is situated, as previously observed, on the summit of 
a steep mountain, on whose declivity the city of Tarku is built. A 
narrow road, protected by a strong wall, leads to the only spring 
at the foot of the mountain, from which the garrison obtains its 
supply of water. This wall is strengthened about half-way down 
by two towers, and close by them stands the powder magazine. 
Kasi Mullah's plan after the capture of Tarku was especially 
directed to seize the spring and powder magazine, in order to 
force the garrison to surrender. 

The Russians, whose great aim it was to defeat these inten- 
tions, made three desperate sallies against the mountaineers, rush- 
ing down to the spring with fierce yells ; but they were each time 
driven back with loss. Though the fortress continued inces- 
santly discharging its cannon, and large blocks of rock and stone 
were hurled down upon the assailants, sweeping whole rows of 
Tschetschensians away into the depths below, these heroic men 
soon seized the powder magazine, and were engaged in divid- 
ing its precious contents, when suddenly a hand-grenade, thrown 
from the fortress, fell among the mountaineers begrimed with 
powder. The latter caught fire, and at the same moment an 
explosion took place which shook the town, the mountain, and 
the fortress, as if they were about to fall together. The air 
thundered and rattled as though the pillars of creation had 
given way. Gigantic flames and volumes of smoke, mixed with 
blocks of rock and mutilated corpses, shot up into the air like 
the eruption of a terrible volcano. Hundreds of warriors met 
their death in this, chaos of flames and shattered rocks. 

The explosion had shaken the mountain to its centre, but 
it did not move the strong heart of Kasi Mullah ; he prosecuted 
the siege with renewed fury ; a constant fusillade was kept up 
the whole night. On the following day, when the want of water 



ILLUSTRATIONS. Si 

began to make itself sensibly felt in the fortress, the besieged 
ventured another desperate fight for the possession of the spring. 
Blood flowed in streams, but no water was obtained ; the spring 
remained in the possession of the Tschetschenzians, and the 
Russian soldiers, fainting with thirst, were obliged once more to 
retire to their parched walls. 

The report of the crashing powder magazine had been ter- 
rible, but still more terrible was the howling and lamentation of 
men and beasts dying of thirst in the fortress of Burnaja. The 
third day broke upon them, and their distress reached the high- 
est pitch ; their only hope was the prospect of relief from a 
strong detachment hurrying to their assistance under General 
Kachanow. Some messengers had succeeded in eluding the 
watchfulness of the Tschetschenzians, and had brought a note 
from the commandant to the General describing their distress. 
Kasi Mullah had occupied all the points round the fortress, and 
was on the point of storming it when the roll of drums and 
roar of cannon announced the approach of the Russian column. 

The fortress was saved ; but it took several days of tremen- 
dous fighting before the superior forces of the Muscovites suc- 
ceeded in driving Kasi Mullah out of Tarku ; and when the 
Russians made their entrance into the half-ruined city, they 
found its streets literally paved with corpses. 

The courage of the mountaineers was raised and not de- 
pressed by the engagements at Tarku. They had measured 
their strength with a powerful enemy, and had found themselves 
more than a match for him. 

Does it not occur to the reader, on perusing this account of 
the conflict of Tarku, that such men can effect anything if sup- 
ported by British treasure and discipline? If Kasi Mullah had 
possessed a corps of European artillery, the fort would not have 
held out a day. Here again we have a fact that destroys the 
objections of those writers who argue that the mountaineers can 
do nothing in the plains or against stone walls. 

We shall next present a specimen of the mode in which 



88 ILLUSTRATIONS. 

Schamyl carries on the war. After the termination of the prin- 
cipal operations in 1841, the Russian troops had mostly retired 
to their quarters, and General Grabbe hurried < ff to Stavropol. 
Military operations appeared to be suspended ; but Schamyl 
had meanwhile collected an army in the territory oLthe Gum- 
bets. Threatening to punish the absent with a fine of a silver 
rouble or fifty stripes (according to a Russian version), he had 
summoned all men capable of bearing arms in Little Tschet- 
schnja, and had thus collected an army of 15,000 warriors. 
He had thereupon darted into the territory of the Kuinyks with 
the speed of lightning, surprising the inhabitants, who were in 
alliance with the Russians, burning their villages, carrying off 
their inhabitants as prisoners, driving off their herds, and threat- 
ening Kisljar. The commandant of that place marched out 
heedlessly into the open field, to meet Schamyl, with only 100 
men and two pieces of cannon. They were, of course, instantly 
overpowered, and for the most part cut down, the two cannon 
being captured. The commandants of the fortresses of Grosnaja 
and Tscherwlenna (General Alscheffsky and Colonel Woinaroff- 
sky) having received intelligence of these disasters, hurried out 
of their strongholds with the view of uniting in the rear of the 
enemy, and cutting off his retreat. But Schamyl had received 
intelligence of this plan, and had already commenced his re- 
treat. The troops of Alscheffsky and Woinaroffsky were only 
two versts apart, when Schamyl, hurrying up, suddenly threw 
his army in the form of a wedge between the two divisions, 
instantly divided his own corps into three columns, attacked the 
Russians on both sides, with equal speed, and ^whilst they were 
engaged in the conflict, carried off safely 40,000 head of cattle, 
and the captured cannon, by the open space left between the 
Russian corps. 

Again, in September, 1843, Schamyl fell into Avaria, a 
province of the Eastern Caucasus, under Russian protection, and 
forced the Russian garrison to surrender by cutting off the water 
from them. A Russian battalion hurrying up to their relief 



ILLUSTRATIONS. 89 

was surrounded and sabred. General Kluke von Klukenau 
advanced against him with all the disposable force he could 
collect, but Schamyl, who was much superior to him in strength, 
drove him out of the field, and forced him to throw himself into 
the fortress of Chunsak, where he was relieved by the arrival 
of Prince Argutinski Dolgorucki, who marched up from Dag- 
hestan with a large force fighting sanguinary engagements the 
whole way. Schamyl evacuated Avaria, after he had laid waste 
the whole country, cut down all the fruit trees, and forced all 
the inhabitants to emigrate. 

This daring leader struck a still bolder blow in 1846, when 
he penetrated into Kalarda, a province long since under Russian 
sway, crossing the Kouban and Terek with a force of 20.000 
men, right into the plains and steppes, laying waste the country, 
destroying die villages and Cossack posts, alarming the Russian 
commanders along the whole line north of the Caucasus, shak- 
ing the allegiance of the inhabitants, and above all proving that 
if energetically supported by men and money from England he 
would readily and successfully accomplish distant expeditions 
into the heart of the Russian territory. 

As several German, some English, and all Russian writers 
have advanced the statement that the tribes of the Caucasus 
in general, and the TschetSchenzians of Schamyl in particular, 
are a savage horde of bandits, relentless, treacherous, and bar- 
barous, we 'shall adduce an example of their practices in war- 
fare to show if they have any occasion to look to us for lessons 
of chivalry. 

Whilst General Grabbe was building the fort of Sakan Jurt, 
in 1841, the Tschetschensians very naturally skirmished day and 
night to impede the works. A Russian officer adds, that these 
Asiatics are such capital shots that it became quite a serious 
affair to oppose them. The Muscovites were especially annoy- 
ed by the night skirmishing. The Tschetchenzians glided in 
the evening near the Russian sentries, outposts and pickets, and 
fired at them, without being anticipated. The lights in the 



90 ILLUSTRATIONS. 

camp assisted the mountaineers in taking aim. Though, the 
Russians strengthened their outposts and pickets, as well as the 
numerous patrols that were sent out, they were scarcely able to 
diminish the everlasting attacks, nor did the shots that were 
returned do much good. At length it was determined not to 
answer any more of this popping in future. "On the first 
evening following this resolution, the shots continued to resound 
some time as usual on the part of the mountaineers. But they 
ceased shortly, and voices were heard asking in the stillness of 
the night : 4 Why we did not reply to their shots ? If we des- 
pised them V Tne Russians replied, 4 We wish to sleep, go to 
bed you also !' On hearing this the Tschetchenzians laughed, 
and hooted, and bantered us for some time, but not a shot was 
fired the rest of that night." This account is from a Russian 
source, and a German writer justly remarks, would a civilized 
and cultivated enemy have behaved as nobly as these barba- 
rous Asiatics ? The Russian authority continues, that it would, 
have been ridiculous to suppose that this mode of protection, 
based solely on the moral feeling of the Tschetschenzians, would 
have answered for any length of time, especially as all this time 
we continued building our fort to enslave the country, un- 
moved by the magnanimity of the enemy. 

During a considerable expedition that was made about the 
same time in Great Tschetschnja, the Russians showed their 
gratitude to the mountaineers for their forbearance in the same 
way that the gallant Greeks responded to the attentions of 
Aberdeen and Palmerston. When this expedition had reached 
within a few versts of Andrejew, they found a great number of 
hayricks which the Tschetschenzians had collected, according to 
Russian accounts, with the view of providing forage for their 
cavalry in an expedition into the territory of the Kumycks. 
These masses of hay were set on fire. The conflagration pre- 
sented a splendid spectacle, lighting up the whole country and 
mountains with countless columns of dames. "It must be ad- 
mitted," continue these Russian accounts, "that this deter- 



ILLUSTRATIONS. 91 

mined destruction of conquered Aouls, and of the harvests, the 
carrying off of the cattle, and other practices on the part of the 
Russians in the Caucasian war, seem to savour of cruelty. 
But it must, never be forgotten, that no other method could 
succeed in effecting the object proposed, i. e., the subjugation 
of the mountaineers ." He might have added that of India 
and Europe. Precisely the same course has been observed in 
Wailachia and will meet with the same palliation, and call forth 
the deadly hatred, curses, and resistance of the victims. "We 
are free to confess," continues our Russian advocate, ° that the 
conduct of some Russian commanders in this war (the Cau- 
casian) has exceeded the bounds of necessary severity, which 
may be vindicated, whilst an unconscientious cruelty is always 
culpable." 

As a last and an extreme specimen of the treatment reserved 
by the Russian Government for all its vassals even the most 
faithful, if they are inconvenient or obnoxious, we shall here in- 
troduce the history of Hadschi-Murad. 

Hadschi-Murad was the darling of the tribe of the Avars, 
the most expert rider and the bravest warrior in Daghestan, the 
same man who smote the Murschid Hamsad Bey, from love to 
his father and to avenge his foster brother Tschonan Bey. 
Hadschi-Murad had ruled over Avaria for seven years with 
rare fidelity and discretion : he had driven back Schamyl twice 
from the wails of Chunsak, and since the death of Hamsad Bey, 
the Russians were indebted to him for all their successes. Yet 
Hadschi-Murad was selected as a victim of Russian bribery and 
treachery. 

But he succeeded in escaping the snares of the Russian 
Tschniovniks (functionaries) before their sinister intentions were 
accomplished, before he had been rewarded with the knout for 
his fidelity, and Siberia had been assigned to him as his second 
fatherland. He fortunately escaped from Chunsak and sent a 
message to Schamyl, with a note acknowledging his error in 
serving the iufiiel Russians, and announcing that he came to 



92 ILLUSTRATIONS. 

fight for him. Schamyl replied, that " God had led him from 
darkness to the light, and that he was an instrument of Provi- 
dence." He was appointed as his first Naib by Schamyl, and 
his deadly hatred of Russian treachery led him to unexampled 
activity in rousing his countrymen against them. Tribe after 
tribe, and numerous chiefs went over to Schamyl, so that a few 
months after Hadschi-Murad's arrival the territory of Schamyl 
had increased threefold. In the ensuing campaign of 1841 the 
mountaineers covered themselves with glory and the Russians 
with infamy. 

The poor tribes of the Aouches and Salatauans, who were 
exposed single handed to the advance of the Russians, sent their 
hostages and tendered their submission. As a reward for their 
obedience, the Russian columns murdered and burned every- 
thing in their territory, all their fields were laid waste, their 
herds plundered, and their houses a prey to the flames. Driven 
to desperation, many of the unhappy natives resisted, but being 
too weak they were defeated. Others fled to the mountains, 
and Schamyl. Others, more unfortunate than the fallen, were 
dragged off by the Russians to strengthen their military colonies 
on the other side of the chain. Scarcely had Schamyl received 
intelligence of this incursion, when he hurried up with the 
flower of his troops, inflicted one defeat after another on the 
Russians, conquered the territory of the Aouches, drove the 
Muscovites from Salatau, and drove them back to Tscherkei. 

It only remains for us to observe that, after reading the 
foregoing narrative of sufferings occasioned by the insane ambi- 
tion of one dynasty, it is evidently the duty of the British 
Cabinet to place effectual barriers to its advances for the future, 
and to preserve the unhappy victims who have already suffered 
so much in the cause of freedom. 

j/ For our own interests — for those of humanity — for the peace 
and happiness of the gallant race who, for 150 years, have defied 
the arts and arms of Muscovy — for the safety of India, the 
honour and welfare of the world, and the preservation of civilisa- 



ILLUSTRATIONS. 93 

lion— -as a reward of virtue, valour, and heroism, and a safe- 
guard against Muscovite aggression — it is the solemn duty of 
the British Ministry, in the sight of God and before man, to 
force Russia to surrender the Caucasian Isthmus, the Crimea, 
and Bessarabia, and to leave the Black Sea free and open. And 
as repeated and glaring evidence has proved that Russian 
treaties are waste paper, and that Muscovy always means the 
reverse of what she says, it is the duty of our Government to 
obtain sure guarantees that the same crimes and follies are not 
repeated for the future — her crimes being rooted in our follies. 
Such, we say, is the duty of the British Cabinet ; but such will 
not be their proceedings. We have had sufficient experience 
of their lukewarmness in the cause of all that is generous, noble, 
and right, to feel sure that when peace is concluded with Rus- 
sia — Circassia, the Crimea, and the Black Sea, will be sacrificed 
as before. \ If you require a proof of this anticipation being cor- 
rect, compare the dates of the massacre of Sinope and the 
bombardment of Odessa. Six months intervened. Is this a 
good augury for the future ? Greece has been protected and 
spared in every way, to become a tool of Russian dissection of 
jthe " sick man," and to hasten the downfall of Austria. Cir- 
cassia, whose liberties involve those of Persia and India, has 
been allowed to labour and linger on, three millions against 
seventy, for generations, without a protest from British diplo- 
macy. It is evidently the duty of British statesmen to atone 
for their past folly by surrendering the contemptible Greeks and 
their robber kingdom to their legitimate sovereign, the Sultan. 
This would be an act of tardy justice ; it would be some attempt 
to repair the mischief we have done, and it would be the kindest 
thing we could do to the Greeks themselves. Under the en- 
lightened sway of Turkey, and partaking in its reforms, these 
benighted bandits would have some chance of improvement. 
At present they are a scandal to Christendom. 

With the documents and facts of contemporaneous and 
past history before us, we are confident that the only way in 



94 ILLUSTRATIONS. 

which our Cabinet can atone for the past, and vindicate the 
present course they pursue, is by restoring Greece to Turkey 
and by shutting out Russia from the Black Sea, on the conclu- 
sion of peace. But we repeat it, that neither the one nor the 
other will be done, that our men and our money will be lavished 
to no purpose, and that the war will only be finished to be re- 
newed with greater cost and under worse auspices, under our 
posterity, because our Cabinet has always spared Russia! 
Those who live to see the peace will probably find that this an- 
ticipation is not exaggerated or incorrect. 



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